How do recent college grads afford to live on their own in the bay area?

I am a recent college grad, moved back home with my parents, got a job paying 45k. It just doesn't seem possible at all making that amount to move out and pay for rent and all other expenses, even with roommates. It appears that rent is at a minimum, $1,000 per month with roommates in the bay area. How are young college grads able to afford this without living paycheck to paycheck? Should I try taking on a second job or creating some sort of online business on the side?

It seems like one has to make at least 60k to be able to live somewhat comfortably with roommates in the bay area and be able to contribute to a retirement plan/savings plan. Do you have any advice for a young person trying to make more money? Thanks!

60k/yr in SF is pretty much poverty line. Move to a cheaper state or get a better job. SF is for smart people who can command 6 figures from the job market.

credit card debt.

I was living in SF on $65k year, in a 440 sqft junior 1 bed apartment in 2005. It rented for $1550 on cal/hyde at the top of the finanical district. I got a cut down to $1350 for managing the trash, collecting rent, and responding to security calls had about 16 units in the building. Trash was a PITA. 4 buckets, one cardboard, one compost, one recycle, and one trash. They all had to go out then back in pretty quick. Recycle had a lock on it, trash guy had a key. It if wasn't locked some jackass would steal its contents and your trash bill would double. When I moved out and they had finished renovations on all the units my unit was rented for $1850. This was through City Apartments.

Niftyone3 said:   I haven't heard of anyone making 100k+ from their first job out of college, at least in my circle of friends. Highest I've heard was $80k straight out of college.

A Google software engineer position for a new hire straight out of college two years ago started at $100,000 cash plus bonus plus RSUs. It's only gone up since.

Work for a while and move up to 100K salary range then move out. Good luck.

Learn to program why else would you be in the bay ...

rufflesinc said:   Niftyone3 said:   Thanks for the responses. So it appears that I should stay at home until I am making more and build up enough for a downpayment on a house.I was being sarcastic. You're going to be retired before you save enough for the bay area.

45k is pretty underpaid for the sf bay...my first job in sf out of college almost two times that and that was 11 years ago

In '03-'05 I lived in Rohnert Park for around $200 a month. I already graduated from college, but found the most affordable option for me was to live in a house of college kids, each of us with our own bedroom, but sharing everything else in the house. I planned to stay in CA long term, but it became clear after awhile that CA is no place for anyone just starting out in life.
This was at the height of the housing bubble; but my opinion has not changed. I still believe there are better options available for people willing to sacrifice and have an open mind. I hear North Dakota is hiring...

1bd apt in the hot areas of SF are $2-3k a month

Even rundown apartments in marginal areas of SF are $1200-1400

I have read about private residential "boarding homes" that are much more affordable. But the lower prices can attract a neck tattooed clientele.

Niftyone3 said:   I haven't heard of anyone making 100k+ from their first job out of college, at least in my circle of friends. Highest I've heard was $80k straight out of college.

My ex-roommate. Stanford grad, Product Design Engineer, making just under $100k. Affords to split a $3,100/month rent with a roommate for a house.

commuting from outside the city or roommates

Have a kid and apply for some of that California welfare.

Good friend of mine graduated from college and received a job offer in San Francisco for 60k a year. I was very proud of him for such a prestigious job offer until I heard that his rent was 1600 a month and parking of 200 a month. Makes my $600 a month rent in AZ look like peanuts.

Daly city, and anywhere in San Mateo county is still $1000+ for a 1 bd apt

There are no cheap options here.

try oakland/east bay

supaet said:   try oakland/east bay
Living in the ghetto to Save $300 a month on rent , but spending an extra $200 on tolls bart or gas isn't very smart

A friend of mine shared a room with 3 other people when she was a student at UCLA (2 bunk beds). I did the same thing in NYC for 4 years. It's not pleasant, but it's doable.

get a sugar daddy

jkimcpa said:   brettdoyle said:   SUCKISSTAPLES said:   You'll give it to tx in the form
Of property taxes

It would probably be a wash... Texas has high property taxes but real estate values are low. You can also decide to live in a cheaper house and fight the appraisal to minimize costs.

CA has a lower property tax rate but the real estate there is massively overpriced so you end up paying a boatload. Unfortunately there's no getting around the CA income tax other than cheating on your taxes which I'm sure a lot of people do.It is a wash. I'm looking at shacks here that go for $1.5m in TX I will pay $500k and they have ~3x higher property tax. And I won't have to send kids to private school.

You must be targeting a very specific neighborhood in TX if you don't think you'll have to put your kid in private school here. Texas state schools are, by and large, a joke. Terribly underfunded, hamstrung by right-wingers on the Board of Education, overcrowded, etc. I think we were 49/50 in the most recent rankings, ahead of only Mississippi IIRC.

Ironically it's the high property taxes that are funding the schools...

SUCKISSTAPLES said:   $2000/month can buy you a house but not the property taxes in tx.

You mentioned a $500k home so your property taxes will be over $1000/month. It's just substituting one form of tax collection for another.

Also your RE value will be suppressed in tx because of the prop tax , so there is less chance of appreciation . There has been more than $2000/month RE appreciation in many CA cities this year. Even in the Central Valley .

In LA and the Bay Area it was more like $10-15,000/month appreciation this past year

I agree with you in general but I wanted to point out that his property taxes will very much depend on where he lives. Property taxes are done locally and independently by the county, city, school district, community college district, hospital district, and in some localities water district and municipal utility district. So if he were to live in Highland Park, these would all be fairly high, but if he were to live in Amarillo, they'd be much lower (though $500k would buy a HELL of a lot of house in Amarillo).

With a $500k house, even in the nicer 'burbs in DFW, Houston, or Austin/San Antonio, I'd be more concerned with massive utility bills since that will buy you a very large house.

jkimcpa said:   SUCKISSTAPLES said:   jkimcpa said:   SUCKISSTAPLES said:   Also remember it isn't SF/NYC vs nowheresvill
Theres hundreds of mid a large cities all over the country with diversity , jobs , entertaining activity etc^^yea, if you're white
Wow.

I Specifically said diversity to pre empt the common response that immigrants and non-white Americans cant move anywhere bc its not diverse enough

iirc you said youre moving to tx so tx must have diversity . Does FL have diversity ? Nj? Mi? Nv? They are all extremely diverse and also low cost. In fact the Asian demographic in Nv and mi is exploding . These certainly aren't in the middle of nowhere, these are states and cities with large populations over 100,000 and lots of diversityI'm planning on moving to TX with a seven figure nest egg and planning to create my own opportunities. I have zero expectations on getting an executive level position at a tech company (which is what I am in CA tech). I did not mean it to disparage the region - just saying outside the bubble they are not there yet. Show me one organic executive at a company in the midwest/south. It is not the norm.

There are tons of Asian people in Texas, especially in DFW, Houston, and Austin. It's perfectly normal. I was shown a study a few years ago that said that Vietnamese was the third largest language in Texas by number of native speakers. Of course I realize that there are large cultural and linguistic gulfs between various Asian nationalities, but that's just an example.

Oh, and I don't know what an "organic" executive is, but here's a top level executive at a company in Texas who is Asian: http://dfwreafebruaryevent.eventbrite.com/