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- A San Franciscan making $80,000 said he doesn't think he could afford to live alone in the city.
- He said he pays $1,200 a month to share a four-bedroom house with three roommates.
- While the cost of living is high, he feels safe and accepted and plans to stay in San Francisco.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with a building manager. He spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of being reprimanded at his job, as he's not authorized to talk to journalists. Insider has verified his salary, address, and employment. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm a 36-year-old building manager, and I've lived in San Francisco for almost 13 years; I moved here in August 2010. I love the city, but the cost of living is so high that I don't think I could afford to retire here.
I live in Hayes Valley, which is a cool, upscale neighborhood. I'm lucky to be able to pay only $1,200 a month to share a four-bedroom house with three roommates, who are also in their 30s.
I make an annual salary of $80,000, which is pretty high, but I don't think I could afford to live on my own in the city given the high cost of renting an apartment, paying for food, and socializing.
I've viewed other apartments with only two bedrooms, and they cost north of $2,500.
Sometimes we joke about how much a salad costs. When we go out for lunch, it's $20 for ingredients we used to be able to buy for half the price.
I don't think I can go out in San Francisco without dropping several hundred dollars in a weekend. It's hard to have savings here if you have a robust social network.
I don't have a car, which helps keep my cost of living down, but I have to pay for the Muni service, which is the city's transit system.
There's a general feeling here that the return on how much money you pay for things is going down.
Still, there's a vibrant culture, and I don't plan to move out of the city anytime soon. Here's two reasons why.
San Francisco is in flux, but there's a lot to enjoy
I think San Francisco is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, although the city is in a constant state of flux and things have changed a lot in recent years.
The activity level has noticeably gone down in the city. The streets are definitely quieter, and a lot of the places we used to go have closed down.
However, there's still a spark of joy in this city if you know where to go — the neighborhoods are where the magic of San Francisco is.
Some things to see include the scenic Marina District, the Palace of Fine Arts, the Golden Gate Bridge, the bay, and Alcatraz. Valencia Street has amazing bars, restaurants, and shops, while Mission Street has a very vibrant Latino community. There's amazing food, tons of people out on the streets, and great events throughout the year.
In my opinion, reports of crime are incredibly overhyped and conflated with the visibility of poverty here. I've seen petty robberies and shoplifting, but I'm not going to stop somebody who's clearly in poverty from taking food.
I understand I'm male and there's some privilege behind that, but I generally feel safe and can walk around with my headphones on without paying attention to my surroundings. I've never been impacted by anything serious.
I don't trust Elon Musk's comment that "downtown SF looks like a Zombie apocalypse," because he clearly has an agenda. This discussion is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and a doom loop that discourages people from investing in San Francisco.
I feel safe and accepted in San Francisco
I'm a gay man, and with the current climate in the US, I want to live somewhere I feel safe — and I feel safe in San Francisco.
You wouldn't catch me dead in Florida or Texas. I would rather be poor in San Francisco than rich in Florida.
I have such a high standard of living in the city, even today. Even if the cost of living is high and some of the things you're getting back for the increased cost might not be what you'd want them to be, I still feel like if I could afford to retire here, I'd never move.