Cost of living in San Francisco
Cost of living in San Francisco is a little higher than France but is quite the same than Paris and is lower than London of course.
Convenience good cost the the same price than in France but they are sold in big quantity which allow you to obtain important discount (for example : we have often $20 of discount for $50 of purchase). Furthermore, the exchange rate of USD / Euros actually allow french people to save even more money.
Only "fresh" product (viandes, poissons, fromage, vins...) are more expensive than in France.
For information, at february 4 2009, 1 euro = 1.28 USD.
Accommodation
Accomodation price in San Francisco is one of the highest in the USA. Despite, it is possible to find an apartment (shared flat in particular) for $700-$800 wich correspond to about 550-650 euros. Most of time, apartments are unfurnished.
Estate Agency :
To help students, SUPINFO has made a deal with a real estate office near the school : Trinity Management.
333 Bay Street
San Francisco, CA
94133 USA
Tel: +1 415 433-3333
Fax: +1 415 989-9390
http://www.trinitymanagement.com
There is many others agencies. Here is a non-exhaustive list :
- Hill & Co (http://www.hill-co.com)
- Zephyr Real Estate (http://www.zephyr-re.com)
- Citi Apartments (http://citiapartments.com)
Craiglist :
Craiglist is most used classified advertising in the USA (more than hundred per day only for accomodation). We can find all kind of classified advertising like funrnitures, electronics, jobs and apartments of course.
Website address is http://www.craigslist.org/ and the page concerning San Francisco is http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/
Transport
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (http://www.sfmta.com) is the agency which manages all transportation in the city.
There is three different transportation in San Francisco :
- Bus : There is a lot of bus line which can carry you at any place in the city ($2)
- Cable Car :only 4 lines but it's a fast and nice way to move ($5.00)
- Bart : it's the subway of the bay. It serves the entire bay, for example, to Oakland, Berkeley, Daly City ... (price vary with destination)
There is a monthly pass for $55.00 which allow you to take any kind of transportation. SFMTA and Nextmuni website allow you to find schedules and which line use to from a point to another.