Moving To San Francisco From Montreal: Cost of Living Comparison

I haven't posted in a while because of all the craziness: I moved to San Francisco from Montreal, Canada.

I wanted to share my thoughts on some basic costs for those who want to move here. First of all, I come from Montreal, Quebec, and I have to tell you that the cost of living in la belle province is significantly lower than the rest of Canada. I hear rent in Vancouver and Toronto is extremely high ($2,000 for an average one-bedroom apartment) so the shock of moving to San Francisco might be lessened if you're from one of those cities.

Rent for 1-Bedroom Apartment 

San Francisco: You're looking at $2,000-$3,000 for an average place with a single bedroom. There are a lot of rich people here, given that almost every tech company you've ever heard of is just around the corner (i.e. Google, Facebook, Apple, Linkedin, Twitter, Adobe...). It's impossible for the average Joe to live within 10km of downtown the way I did back in Montreal.

A local told me that there is no rent control on new buildings (anything built after the 1960's of something) so crazy rent hikes are not unheard of. Also, applying to rent a place is almost like applying for a job. Proof of salary, tons of references, one month prepaid deposit etc are all needed. The good thing is that some leases are monthly, unlike in Montreal where you have only year-long leases.

Montreal: You can get an average apartment 10km from downtown for $600-$700. For $1,000, you'd get something really nice and you could be a 10 minute metro ride to the city core. Montreal and everywhere else in Quebec is by far very affordable.

Utilities

We have to pay about $130/month for water, which back home is "free".

Tennis Clubs

Golden Gate Park

San Francisco: We looked into joining a club, just for kicks and the costs were utterly insane. I'm sorry, I'm not Bill Gates and I don't have thousands of dollars to spend in membership fees. The cost to sign up, without a single hour of court time was something like $3,700 (sign-up plus monthly fees). You'd have to pay $20-$40/h per court time on top of all of that. There are some public courts around and they are free so that's cool and the weather allows you to play year-round.

Montreal: About the same hourly rates but membership costs are around $800. I played on public courts at Kent Park or Jarry Park (Stade Uniprix) and had no membership fees. In the summer, it was $7/h for the court and in winter, a bit pricier at $30-$40/h per court.




Restaurants

Left to right: Primo Patio: Lamb and chicken jerk, Chili House: Noodles and pork crepe. Both places are very good and about $10-$15

San Francisco: Eating out is a bit cheaper than in Montreal if you go to "Western" restaurants. You could get a good meal for $12-$15 and the equivalent in Montreal would probably be $20+. Chinese restaurants, however, are about the same prices as in Montreal but since it's already cheap it's hard to go lower.

I did notice that fast food is cheaper even in the health-oriented city of SF.

Groceries

San Francisco: Groceries seem to be comparable or a tad more expensive than in Montreal. It doesn't help that I don't have a car so I'm stuck going to Safeway or some other local grocer but I always thought food was a lot cheaper in the US. I guess I'm used to US food prices in north eastern states like Vermont (near Montreal) but San Francisco is no Vermont.

Montreal: If you are lucky enough to live near Supermarché PA, you can get really cheap produce. I love oranges and when you can get 10 for $2, that's a win for me.

Public Transport

San Francisco: There are a few separate transit systems in the city, meaning you need to pay separately. It's actually cheaper to take the MUNI ($2.00) and the BART ($3.00) is the same price as in Montreal. The only sad thing is that the BART runs from the suburbs to downtown and no where else really so you're really limited to sites that are close to downtown. It doesn't even go to the touristy Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge or the other 80% of places you'd want to go when in town.  

The other day, I made the mistake of thinking that buses were part of MUNI and the subway was part of BART. Both MUNI and BART have subways and it's weird to have two subway systems in parallel. You have to scan your Clipper card at the entrance of the BART station but for MUNI subways, you have to scan it inside the actual train as you enter. Weird indeed.

More to come...


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