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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 2021
What's the cheapest neighborhood to live in San Francisco for 2021? 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
How We Determined The Cheapest San Francisco Hoods In 2021
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.
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In San Francisco For 2021
/10
Population: 22,014
Cost Of Living Index: 192 (11th 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: 214 (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
/10
Population: 21,375
Cost Of Living Index: 236 (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: 39,932
Cost Of Living Index: 133 (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: 29,799
Cost Of Living Index: 189 (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
I really wish I could find a place I can actually afford shortly after high school, because I’d absolutely love to live in San Francisco!
Any apartment areas that accept Section 8 vouchers? Hopefully in a neighborhood where if you hear something like it firecracker you’re not conditioned to immediately hit the ground. Nah, go ahead and include those too please!
Cheers,
Michael