Where to live in San Francisco?
Just graduated and will be starting full time in SF (financial district) later this summer. What neighborhoods should I be looking at for housing? I'd like to be somewhere that feels lively / has a lot of young people (I wanted to be in new york)
Cow hollow/ marina. If you want to be closer to work, consider Russian hill, nob hill, or north beach. Avoid the tenderloin and depending on your employment consider the mission. Overall cow hollow or marina will give the closest “out of college/ young people vibe”
This is correct
I’m a bit older and don’t want to be in the marina too much but would be fun just out of college and in banking. Lots of your work pals may live over there
I live in a high rise in Rincon Hill. Not a lot going on over here but it's close to work and my building is hella nice
Thanks! If there's not much going on there, where do you typically go to hang out?
Marina on Friday nights, around Fort Mason, I go up to Napa almost every other week
If you want to be close to work and have a really nice/new apartment with all the amenities - SoMa/Rincon Hill
I would say the demographic of North Beach / Polk Gulch leans most to the newly graduated crowd. Fun spots, restauraunts and bars, little dive-ier spots.
Cow Hollow/Marina (where I live) is also very young, packed with nice boutique stores, restaurants, young bars along Fillmore st, Union and Chestnut. Maybe skews slightly more to older 20s, early 30s that live here but not out of place as new graduate either. Also ~5min walk to the water / Fort Mason where a lot of people daydrink and hangout.
I would personally aim for the latter 2 options above. There are many other good neighborhoods too like Hayes but above is my guide if a friend were to ask me where to live. Also you'll find less homeless the further you go from fidi and more residential the area (pac heights very nice area but less to do in immediate vicinity). Good luck!
Lastly, don't underestimate the distance between neighborhoods. Close in technical distance, but the hills in SF can act as a real deterrent. When I first moved I lived in SoMa and it was easy to be anti-social just because of the distance / necessary uber to go anywhere interesting.
So helpful, thank you. what about russian hill / fort mason area? Seems like a good compromise geographically between fidi, the marina, and north beach. Call me a nerd but i am also worried about living on landfill in the marina.
Totally agree re: distance btw. Having to travel too far can be such a big psychological barrier even if it isn't that bad on paper
Russian hill is nice, a bit more residential than the other areas (unless close to Polk st) and a bit less "in the thick" of all the bars/restaurants but not far at the same time.
Re: Earthquake risk - Never verified this myself till now, but I was told by my realtor that the land north of Lombard st is on landfill. But the cow hollow neighborhood south of Lombard is mostly on solid ground. Might wake up to stare into an abyss out the window though :)
https://data.sfgov.org/City-Infrastructure/San-Francisco-Seismic-Hazard…;
You seem very knowledgeable about SF, what do you think of tenderloin? How much of it is gentrified already and what’s the pace on that? Think within 10-15 years it’s possible it will be cleaned up?
It is definitely a bit grittier than the rest of SF. If you're smart about yourself and minding your own business, I don't really think you're at risk of physical violence. But you will find some zombies lumbering around down there.
In terms of gentrification, the more north you are the better. People you meet that live on the edge like to call it the "TenderNob" for better association with Nob Hill haha. Civic center -ish area and the couple surrounding streets there north of Market tend to be the highest concentration of drug addicts / homeless encampments. The progress definitely slowed last few years over covid, but there is a rising base of frustrated elite / homeowning class that loathes the inaction of SF's current local government. It pains us significantly how SF used to be associated globally with progress and beauty vs now disorder and unattainably expensive. Very tough to predict a timeline (potentially shaky path ahead with the declining tax base), but a lot can happen in 10 yrs. I'm hopeful.
Last point just to counter the negative public American perception of SF - neighborhoods away from the tenderloin are quite nice. You run into the occasional weirdo / homeless person, but that's just city-living. I would feel very safe living in pac heights/marina/cow hollow/russian hill or west side of the peninsula where it's suburban by golden gate park (either richmond above or sunset below). Quality SF living means leaning into the positives! For me that's a fun quirky city, year-round good weather, amazing surrounding nature, Napa, Tahoe nearby, skiing in winter, Vegas an hour flight away, etc. I've shared your desire to be in NYC in the past, but its behind me now that I'm older (don't have it in me for the 6am nights clubbing and craziness) and I instead opt to just visit a few times a year for a great time.
Not Soma, unless OP is REALLY cash strapped
agreed, soma fucking blows there are so many better places to live in SF
Source: lived in soma immediately after undergrad
I lived in the marina when I worked in SF. Yeah the bus commute to fidi is over 30 min but you really can’t beat the marina and cow hollow area. It’s the nicest area aside from the presidio. Great restaurants all along chestnut st and you’re close to the presidio and the water which is beautiful. I lived across the street from the palace of fine arts and it was a really great area. The parks, gardens, and aesthetic are the main thing I liked about SF.
Russian Hill, North Beach, or the Marina only. Mission isn’t central and SOMA is full of 30 year old software engineers
Nob Hill is paradise
Marina, Cow Hollow, Russian Hill, Pac Heights or North Beach since you’re new to the city. In a year or two NOPA, the Panhandle and Hayes are all solid but not exactly places you’d want to start out in unless you’ve got a solid group of friends.
Anything downtown (SOMA, FiDi, etc.) are all boring as hell and places people go to work 2-3 days per week so almost everything closes at like 4 PM. You have the lowest concentration of fun bars, good food, and have to deal with the occasional crazy more often than you would elsewhere in these areas. It’s one of the biggest misconceptions people have when coming to California whether that be SF or LA. They expect the downtown areas and those with a high concentration of hotels to be the center of the action when the reality is that nobody except tourists frequents these places.
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