San Francisco Living...

Now that I've received my first paycheck, I'm thinking realistically about where I'm going to live--away from home--like a regular, functional, self-sustaining 29-year-old.

Fortunately, I found this handy map to assist me in my increasingly frequent forages through Craigslist (yep, I'm already back on Craigslist):


It's San Francisco's "yuppie index" wherein the red signifies the highest concentration of yuppies in a given neighborhood. Their definition designates a "yuppie" as a young professional making more than $100,000/year. While the entire city is clearly blanketed by a pinkish hue, it is not surprising to me that my brother's neighborhood, the Marina, is #1. Equally as unsurprising is the fact that I have a long way to go before I fit this description, at which point, I'll no longer be young.

Digging further, I found a fantastic website--TownMe--where other maps are available for like minded curious real estate shoppers. In addition to yuppies, there are maps for populations of cougars (also highly crimson in my brother's hood), sugar daddies, starving students, single moms, single dads, and most relevant to me, people overextending themselves on rent, which sadly, will inevitably include me, as well as most people in the city.

At least I can rest assured, though, that Manhattan is more in the red on this front than San Francisco.

I'm still actively working to overcome lingering sticker shock from my time in the Midwest, a magical and glorious land of sub-$500 rents. Once the prospect of writing a monthly rent check with more than three digits doesn't make my heart race and my eyes tear, there will be no stopping me.