San Francisco’s median market rent remains the highest in the nation, second only to the island of Manhattan—a statement so consistently true throughout 2016 you could get it tattooed.
Last week the rental site RENTCafe estimated that the median price of a San Francisco apartment on their platform sits at $3,399/month.
Previously, competitor sites offered estimates ranging from $3,380 to $3,440. On the other hand, the median for an apartment nationwide is about $1,216.
If you were curious, that $2,183 monthly difference would be enough to buy:
- Leases on three median-priced apartments in cities like Tulsa, Oklahoma, or Wichita, Kansas, the slowest growing and most affordable rental markets on most apartment sites.
- Mortgages on more than nine median-priced homes in Modoc County, which real estate site Trulia estimates as California’s most affordable county, with a median sales price of just under $49,000.
- Seven monthly visits to Serendipity 3 in New York City to eat one of their $295 hamburgers, which is topped with cheddar aged 18 months and comes complete with a solid gold, diamond-encrusted toothpick.
- A monthly ounce of Clive Christian No. 1, the fifth most expensive perfume in the world in 2015. Every bottle comes with a 1⁄3 carat jewel on the neck.
- Two and a half ounces per month of Hardy Perfection Cognac Number 410, of which only 600 bottles were produced. A single shot can cost $875.
- One yard every month of vicuna wool, sheered from rare, endangered, camel-like creatures of the Andes mountains. A vicuna wool scarf may retail for $4,000, while a vicuna suit (of which only about 30 are made every year) goes for more than $46,000.
- One rare Tahitian black pearl of reasonable quality, the only type of pearl in the world with a naturally black color.
- More than two pounds of illegal, black market Asian ivory. We do not, of course, suggest trafficking in illegal ivory. But it’s interesting to note that you’re probably paying the equivalent of an awful lot of it for one bedroom.
- About three Bitcoins at present market prices. For perspective, whoever hacked Muni’s computer systems last week demanded 100 Bitcoins in ransom.
So if you’ve ever wondered what it’s really worth living in a world class city like San Francisco, now you know. At least until next month.
- RENTCafe Market Report [RENTCafe]
- 21 Percent of Rentals Cut Prices [Curbed SF]
- California Home Prices [Trulia]
- The Most Expensive Burger In the World [Eater]
- The Most Expensive Perfumes In the World [ABC]
- Most Expensive Spirits [USA Today]
- What a Vicuna Suit Costs [Wall Street Journal]
- How To Buy Pearls [Pearls Of Joy]
- Price of Ivory [Havoc Scope]
- Hackers Holding SF Rail For Ransom [The Verge]