living in san francisco vs. nyc | one year later

[Music] so i'm coming up on living in san francisco for about a year now and a question that i've gotten asked countless times is what do you prefer new york or sf which city is better to live in which city would i want to live in for the foreseeable future and it's quite a loaded question there's a lot to go over i'll give you my take and to preface i lived in san francisco for only about a year now and in manhattan specifically in new york city for about three years so my opinions can definitely change but let me give you my thoughts and before that let's go grab a coffee [Music] so i'll start out by going over some of the biggest differences between each city and this is probably a good time to mention the nature and the weather which is one of the largest differences i would say definitely not warm it's around 55 degrees but it stays really mild all year long which is really nice it's not your typical california weather because you definitely need to wear a jacket like that's the running joke that you always need to wear a jacket at all times yeah the weather here is unparalleled there's really no such thing as winter new york city winters are fun for the first two days and then it gets completely utterly depressing new york has seasons which is nice something is pretty magical about new york in the summer as well as the fall san francisco has a very mild climate all year round which i actually prefer i was lost in my mind lost in my mind so the other obvious difference between san francisco and new york is the nature there's way more things to do outdoors in san francisco you have beaches within the city and outside you have lake tahoe where you can do some really great skiing in the winter and then do water sports in the summer and then you also have napa valley you have a lot of really great hiking options you have yosemite national park you can even go surfing in santa cruz or pacifica and this is all within a three to four hour drive from the city so there's just never a shortage of things to do outdoors the nature is extremely beautiful and i think that's one of the biggest differences between new york new york has some hiking you can go to central park i guess you can also take a train out to some other places to go hiking and there are some beaches in the other boroughs as well but i don't think it really compares almost never rains here so in new york if you're trying to go out you always have to think about a umbrella or look at the forecast here it basically never rains so especially for outdoor things like picnics or playing tennis or things like that you almost never have to worry about you know the rain ruining anything yeah so the second major difference uh i've noticed is public transportation if you live in sf it's pretty crucial to have a car the public transportation here is okay not great by any means sometimes the buses are late they're not super efficient so expect to uber a lot if you don't own a car they also don't run 24 7 so if that's important to you something to consider if you hate driving or if you love taking public transportation or if you don't have your driver's license or don't know how to drive then new york city is the clear winner here the subway runs 24 7. super efficient sometimes when it is late or it's not running they take care of it by having buses take you where you need to go and everywhere in the city and even the outer boroughs of new york are all really really accessible via the subway so the transportation new york is really nice and if that's something that is really important to you new york city definitely wins in this department going along with the topic of public transportation should definitely talk about how walkable the city is are new york city is definitely way more walkable i've never really felt unsafe walking around new york city and people tend to walk a lot more it's nice to also see the city i also feel like there's a lot more people on the streets whereas sf has a ton of hills and some areas are not super walkable because of that some of the streets are very empty at night so it can feel a little bit unsafe walking through certain areas you just feel like you're the only person walking around and i really haven't experienced that same effect in new york i'm gonna go switch it up and look for somewhere that's a little more quiet all right post it up near this garage so one other major difference i wanted to discuss is homelessness and it's definitely way more visible in san francisco and the surrounding bay area that's not to say that new york does not have homeless people i actually read that the rate of homelessness is actually somewhat similar between the two cities but the number of sheltered homeless people in new york is so much higher than in sf so that's why it's so much more visible here definitely have a lot more research and reading i need to do about the topic but it's a lot more visible in san francisco you'll see a lot of streets that have a lot of encampments and tents whereas in new york you don't really see it as much so that's something else to consider all right now it's time to get a haircut i face the way yo what's up [Music] [Music] all right so we're back home and got the haircut so i'm gonna talk a little bit about my thoughts on generalizations that i've heard about both cities so the first one is this criticism of sf for having monolithic culture first off i think both cities can have monolithic culture with sf being you know having the typical tech bubble new york can also be seen as having a lot of people in finance and consulting or the financial services industry my thoughts are just that it ultimately comes down to you to choose your friend group and you know your bubble and who you want to interact with and for people who have that criticism of you know sf being a monolithic city you choose your circle people from all walks of life exist various occupations different backgrounds in both cities maybe new york has slightly higher diversity but i think at the end of the day you choose your crowd and for the people who say or complain that either city is too monolithic i think that also just has to do with the types of people you choose to surround yourself with so the second point that i've heard is that nightlife in san francisco is not as good people like to stay out pretty early go to bed early wake up to go hiking bars close at one while that could be true to a small extent i think at the end of the day it depends on your friend group i've been to a fair share of places in sf that are open pretty late you know there's a couple clubs that play really good house and techno music get some really awesome acts and they stay open really late so it ultimately depends on your friend group if you find like-minded people that share those same interests you will find them in sf and maybe on average people might you know end the night a little bit earlier in san francisco but i do want to make the point that if staying out late and nightlife is something that you're really into you will find those people and you will find those venues in san francisco as well maybe it's just a bit more prevalent and in your face and that lifestyle is a little bit more common in new york so final thoughts it ultimately boils down to this if you like more laid-back vibes if you like a lot of natural beauty you will probably like sf a little bit more if you like the hustle and bustle and you like that energy of always having somewhere to go and everyone really trying to to make it out there i really feel that new york has that energy which i do miss sometimes so if that is something really important to you and the public transportation aspect is really important to you and just living in an overall metropolis type vibe is more important to you then definitely new york city might be more up your alley once again the perfect city for you is going to depend on your preferences and your interests so i can only just give what my thoughts are i think honestly if you're in your early 20s you can't really go wrong by going to new york city and just experiencing it since i think people out here tend to be a little bit older but what i can say about both cities that i think are really great is that they a both have a lot of their own culture the cost of living is relatively similar between both cities and that they're both pretty damn expensive and there's always something to do in both cities in new york it might be easier to get to those places and sf i feel that there's always something to do as well and then i think another one is food both have really great restaurants the mexican food out here is kind of unparalleled new york city has a lot more options i think in terms of cheap eats and really up and coming restaurants and things like that so my overall reflections and takeaways from this video are that both cities are great there's no perfect city san francisco is great new york city is great and what people sometimes forget is that your impression of a city whether good or bad will also be really impacted by the type of people you're with and the experiences you have with them you can go on the most beautiful hikes you know go to the most beautiful national parks in california but if you're going just by yourself or you're not with people that you know you really care about you know that'll really affect your perception and no matter what city you're in try and find a really great support system and community because that will really affect your experiences there and wherever you live if those experiences are starting to get stale or you feel like you're getting a little bit too comfortable it's also great to get out of your comfort zone so i'll leave you with that hope you guys found this useful and i will catch you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: Michael Gu

Views: 176,180

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Id: tHkn8qD4_vM

Length: 10min 57sec (657 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 12 2022