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Everything else equal, I think we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I'd much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I'd rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in San Francisco might be more expensive than living in rural California, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
So what exactly are those San Francisco neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further -- you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and find out which neighborhoods in San Francisco are the cheapest.
The Cheapest Neighborhoods In San Francisco For 2022
What's the cheapest neighborhood to live in San Francisco for 2022? According to the most recent census data, South Of Market looks to be the cheaptest San Francisco neighborhood to live in.
At this point we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for -- some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in San Francisco. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates in return for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around San Francisco that deserve a little bragging rights or maybe you're interested in the worst neighborhoods in San Francisco.
Once you're done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of every neighborhood we looked at from cheapest to most expensive.
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In San Francisco For 2022
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Population: 35,386
Cost Of Living Index: 166 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.1 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (10th cheapest)
More on South Of Market: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 22,014
Cost Of Living Index: 188 (10th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.4 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (2nd cheapest)
More on Lakeshore: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 13,448
Cost Of Living Index: 212 (18th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.3 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (5th cheapest)
More on Potrero Hill: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 6,974
Cost Of Living Index: 184 (9th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.4 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (16th cheapest)
More on Financial District: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 21,375
Cost Of Living Index: 235 (26th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.1 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (cheapest)
More on West Of Twin Peaks: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 21,884
Cost Of Living Index: 232 (25th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 8.4 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (3rd cheapest)
More on Castro-Upper Market: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 39,932
Cost Of Living Index: 136 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.4 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.025 (34th cheapest)
More on Downtown: Homes For Sale | Data
/10
Population: 28,638
Cost Of Living Index: 208 (16th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 7.9 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (18th cheapest)
More on Bernal Heights: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 29,799
Cost Of Living Index: 188 (10th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 8.1 (8th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (24th cheapest)
More on Outer Mission: Homes For Sale | Data
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Population: 35,739
Cost Of Living Index: 168 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 8.9 (16th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (22nd cheapest)
More on Bayview: Homes For Sale | Data
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest San Francisco Hoods In 2022
In order to rank the cheapest places to live in San Francisco, we had to determine what criteria defines "cheap".
Using census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 34 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index the "Cheapest City Neighborhood In San Francisco." We're lookin' at you, South Of Market.
Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the cheapest places San Francisco. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In San Francisco
If you're measuring the neighborhoods in San Francisco where prices are low and it's cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in San Francisco aren't all cheap. Inner Richmond takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in San Francisco.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more California reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In California
- Richest Cities In California
- Safest Places In California
- Worst Places To Live In California
Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In San Francisco For 2022
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Of Market | 166 |
| 2 | Lakeshore | 188 |
| 3 | Potrero Hill | 212 |
| 4 | Financial District | 184 |
| 5 | West Of Twin Peaks | 235 |
| 6 | Castro-Upper Market | 232 |
| 7 | Downtown | 136 |
| 8 | Bernal Heights | 208 |
| 9 | Outer Mission | 188 |
| 10 | Bayview | 168 |
| 11 | Visitacion Valley | 165 |
| 12 | Diamond Heights | 219 |
| 13 | Parkside | 202 |
| 14 | Outer Sunset | 204 |
| 15 | Ocean View | 182 |
| 16 | Mission | 206 |
| 17 | Inner Sunset | 224 |
| 18 | Excelsior | 179 |
| 19 | Twin Peaks | 235 |
| 20 | Western Addition | 197 |
| 21 | Noe Valley | 249 |
| 22 | Haight-Ashbury | 253 |
| 23 | Crocker Amazon | 176 |
| 24 | Glen Park | 228 |
| 25 | Seacliff | 266 |
| 26 | Pacific Heights | 290 |
| 27 | Presidio Heights | 284 |
| 28 | Chinatown | 165 |
| 29 | Nob Hill | 211 |
| 30 | Russian Hill | 228 |
| 31 | North Beach | 216 |
| 32 | Marina | 279 |
| 33 | Outer Richmond | 226 |
| 34 | Inner Richmond | 249 |
