What $2,200 rents you in San Francisco right now

Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, a regular column exploring what you can rent for a set dollar amount in different neighborhoods. Is one person's studio another person's townhouse? Let's find out. Today's price: $2,200.

↑ From the outside, the 1906 Victorian on Wright Street in Bernal Heights has a kind of frosted and gleaming look owing to the paint job, looking at much like a storybook illustration as a real house. The entire home, of course, isn’t available at this price point, but it does have a 500-square-foot in-law unit downstairs. Note that there is some confusion on the size and layout, as it’s dubbed a “studio,” but also one-bedroom and one-bath. Hmm. Whatever the proportions, it’s $2,200/month. The ad doesn’t mention pets, which is usually a discouraging sign on that front.

↑ Although this other Victorian in Pacific Heights at 2525 Fillmore (which city records date to 1900, although usually that date means that the pre-1906 records are lost and it’s anyone’s guess) also goes for a pristine white exterior, the photos here make it rather looming and gothic—which is not necessarily a bad thing. A studio here also rents for $2,200/month, advertising both a recent remodel (although virtually every home on Craigslist claims the same) and the salvation of the original floors. No pets here either, although at least they’re up front with it.

↑ On the edge of the Castro at 20th and Douglass, this little home almost looks like a playhouse that wandered out from the backyard of a nearby home and had a growth spurt. The rental in this case is actually yet another additional studio downstairs, and at 300 square feet there’s not much of it to show. Normally ads this minor fly under the radar, but in this case the place honestly is pretty cute, having until recently operated as a neighborhood bed and breakfast. At $2,100/month the price is less adorable, but that’s the Castro for you. Again, mum on pets.

↑ Speaking of in-laws, this one in Visitacion Valley fits in two bedrooms and one bath for $2,200/month on Delta Street, making it technically the largest accommodation of the five at this price point. Looks like a tight squeeze in there—the living room has only about an airplane aisle’s worth of space when furnished in the photos—but note that the advertised floor space of eight square feet is presumably a typo.

↑ This is not a competition to see just how small a San Francisco apartment can get in this day and age—although if it was, this studio at SoMa Residences at 1045 Mission would clearly be the winner, at a mere 275 square feet, so small that the kitchen doubles as an entryway. They don’t call them efficiency homes for nothing. It’s also the cheapest of the five here, although only by a hair: The rent is $2,098/month.