SF and NYC Tech Workers Are Moving to LA During Covid, Driving Housing Up 17% | Hacker News Reader

SF and NYC Tech Workers Are Moving to LA During Covid, Driving Housing Up 17%

dot.la

8 pointsericzass5 comments

>Nick Dowdle, growth product manager at the real estate startup ZeroDown, was shelling out $2,400 a month to rent a cramped room in a three bedroom townhouse in San Francisco's trendy Castro District until recently moving to Marina Del Rey. He is now spending $2,100 a month to rent his own one-bedroom in a luxury complex that includes a pool, hot tub and outdoor gym.

He could of also moved to Chicago and gotten a 2 bedroom for 1500$.

LA is far from affordable for most. Looks like they might turn LA into SF, I think LA already has more homeless. Once you add in a car , which in traditional LA fashion will run 800$ a month between payment , insurance and gas, you've reached parity with NYC. Not SF though

Chicago has snow & biting cold 5 months out of the year, sweltering heat 4 months out of the year, and a pretty mediocre tech industry (outside of healthcare, insurance, or finance). At least California has Prop 13, whereas Chicago/Cook County property taxes will need to go up forever to cover accrued liabilities. There's a reason everyone is fleeing the state [1]. LA would need to get much worse before Chicago is a better option.

Disclosure: Illinois native who bounced.

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=illinois+outflow

I really liked Chicago. The people are earnest , hard working and straight forward. Exact opposite of the snakes I encountered in LA.

The bitter cold isn't that bad, it stops tent cities from taking over. The El is fast and cheap. The tech industry is moderately strong. Not as big of a startup scene , but your rent + transportation costs are 1/2 of what they are in LA. Does suck that Illinois has no money and no one knows how they're going to pay all those pensions, but if you ignore that it's great

Having spent time in all 3 cities, I can't imagine why LA would be considered an upgrade. Unless by "LA" you mean suburban Orange County like Costa Mesa.

Great weather, access to beach.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com