The property market shows no sign of slowing down. Apartment List reports that rents in San Francisco are up 14% from one year ago, compared to just a 0.4% increase in California, and a 1.7% decrease in the rest of the United States. A handful of homes have sold for millions of dollars over asking price this year: a trend that’s set to continue.

And it’s not just newcomers to the Bay Area that are getting sticker shock; residents are feeling it too. A 2025 poll by Joint Venture Silicon Valley found that 91% of respondents living in San Francisco or surrounding counties considered the cost of housing a serious problem in the Bay Area, and 90% said the same about the cost of living overall.

“People need to be ready for a market that is unlike any other,” says Ryan Lundquist, Certified Residential Appraiser and housing market analyst at Sacramento Appraisals, adding that sellers in San Francisco price homes strategically low, and the current market is seeing properties selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking price on average.

To get a clear picture of what the Bay Area actually costs, we spoke to people who have experienced it firsthand. Here’s their advice:

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Finding housing: what the process actually looks like

From finding roommates on Craigslist, facing bidding wars on property purchases or rentals, or exploring alternative living arrangements like founder houses or coliving spaces, San Francisco’s housing landscape isn’t for the faint-hearted.

Kat Yenko, founder of muni, which is building infrastructure for bio/chem R&D, has lived in San Francisco since 2019, moving through Dogpatch, SOMA, and now Corona Heights. Her search predated the current AI-era bidding environment, and took about a month of active looking. She kept moving costs lean by renting a U-Haul, and thanking her friends who helped her move with a pizza party.

"After I learned people needed to submit entire resumes about themselves and bid up from the original price to just rent apartments here, it's hard to be surprised about anything else," she says.

Competitive rental applications that can involve proof of income, references, personal statements, and above-asking bid, is a real feature of the SF housing market. For founders or professionals arriving without a local credit history or employment letter from a recognizable employer, putting together these applications can be even more challenging.

When Ashley Lim moved to San Francisco as a Big Tech employee before the pandemic, she found that landlords typically require you to be ready to move into rental properties immediately.

“Many of them expected me to submit applications on the same day which I was not prepared to do, and there were often also application fees,” she says.

“As a single female living alone, with no prior rental history, it wasn’t easy to find something well priced. I ended up going for one of the managed apartments with more availability and ability to take applicants without rental history.”

Maggie Blackburn, Fractional Marketer and Portfolio Career Strategist, moved to San Francisco in 2017 and lived there for close to 4 years: first in North Beach, then for 3 years in NOPA near Alamo Square.

For her, Craigslist was the best option to find tenants to share apartments with, and her search included dining rooms converted to bedrooms, because she wanted to be flexible on setup and optimize for price and location.

After splitting the search across multiple listings, Maggie eventually landed a 3-bedroom apartment with 2 roommates for USD$5,450 per month (divided based on room size and added perks like parking).

Lundquist's advice to anyone approaching the market for the first time is to study the neighborhoods. Prices in San Francisco can vary dramatically by area, and knowing which neighbourhoods command a premium changes how you read a listing. A "low" asking price in one neighbourhood means something very different from the same number in another.

Relocating to the US involves more upfront cost than most founders anticipate – from visa filing fees to legal retainers. We've broken it all down if you want the full picture.

How SF stacks up to other cities

While the cost of housing and the property market in the Bay Area is higher than ever, sources say the overall cost of living isn’t a far cry from other expensive cities in the US, like Boston and New York.

Kat, who previously lived in Boston, says the premium associated with life in SF is narrower than advertised.

"SF is relatively more expensive, but surprisingly, not by much,” she says, adding that she’s noticed higher prices in San Francisco for car ownership and groceries, among other expenses.

Maggie, who lived in San Francisco from 2017 to 2021 before moving to New York City, admits that with the context of New York’s cost of living, rent and expenses in San Francisco were “not as crazy” as they are in the Big Apple, although rents seem to be rising again in SF due to the AI boom.

The realities of living in the tech bubble

One aspect of San Francisco that newcomers may not understand until they arrive is how the social fabric of the city is almost entirely organized around the industries that dominate it.

"All of my friends were in tech, either as engineers or marketers or data scientists, so you are really living and working in the tech bubble," says Maggie.

"There is a bigger culture of being outside and even holding house parties that I didn't really see here in New York."

For founders building networks, the density of relevant people in San Francisco is hard to replicate, but for those looking for a more varied social environment, it might take more effort to find it.

Some AI employers are now offering housing stipends to incentivize employees to live closer to the office, which is worth raising if you’re negotiating a relocation package to the Bay Area with a new employer.

Despite high rents and a cost of living that ranks among the highest in the US, the network effects for founders, proximity to nature, and cutting-edge culture of innovation and progress make San Francisco an enticing choice for global founders looking for their next move.

For Kat, life in San Francisco is worth the hefty price tag. “I care about my career and access to the outdoors all year round. It's a hard place to leave."

If you're relocating to the US as a founder, the housing cost is only one piece of the puzzle. Read our guides on visa costs, founder salary, and building a community in the Bay Area to plan your move with the full cost in mind.