Here's a plot twist nobody in San Francisco saw coming: we're not even the most expensive city in America anymore.
New data on cost-of-living-adjusted salaries shows that New York, San Jose, Irvine, Boston, and San Diego all require higher earnings to maintain a comparable standard of living than San Francisco does. Yes, the city where a one-bedroom apartment runs you $3,000 and a burrito costs $18 is somehow not the worst deal in the country.
Before you pop champagne (which, to be fair, is probably $45 a bottle at your corner store), let's be clear: this isn't because San Francisco got cheaper. It's because everywhere else got worse. The national cost-of-living crisis isn't a San Francisco export — it's a policy failure that's gone coast to coast. Zoning restrictions, regulatory bloat, and government-enabled utility monopolies have made affordability a fantasy from Boston to San Diego.
Speaking of monopolies, the cost of simply keeping the lights on remains a sore spot. As one Bay Area resident who relocated from Toronto put it, the electricity bills feel like robbery — "and for someone coming from Ontario, that's saying something." When Canadians, who already pay through the nose for utilities, are stunned by your energy costs, maybe it's time to ask what exactly PG&E is doing with all that money.
Another local summed up the Bay Area experience with brutal poetry: "Everything is more expensive. Everything. You'll never get to smell deodorant before you buy it. You'll make good money. The views are incredible."
That about covers it.
The real takeaway here isn't that SF residents should feel relieved. It's that the regulatory frameworks strangling housing supply, inflating energy costs, and layering bureaucratic fees onto every transaction aren't unique to us anymore — they've metastasized. Cities across America are now replicating the exact policy mistakes that made the Bay Area synonymous with unaffordability.
So congratulations, San Francisco. We're no longer number one at being unlivable. But until city and state governments start treating fiscal discipline and deregulation as tools for affordability rather than dirty words, the ranking is cold comfort. Being the sixth-most expensive city in America is not the win anyone thinks it is.
