$1325 for an 800-sq-ft 1-BR six blocks from Union Square (okay, for two of those blocks, you have to step over homeless encampments), with megawhompus closet space, more historic detail than you can dust without losing your sanity, and a small balcony. And the building is non-scary.

Paid parking is another $215, but my workplace is inaccessible without a car.

Wow Wende, sounds as if you have a great find in the city, so jealous!!!

I live on the Pennisula, Palo Alto, pay $1350 have a one bedroom with a fireplace, no parking. But I do have a cute stoop with tons of flowers that I have planted all around it. That makes the no parking space okay.

$2100 for 1300 square feet in Oakland, one block from the GrandLake Theatre. What we have: 2 bedrooms plus small bonus room/study; hardwood floors throughout; 2 nonfunctional fireplaces; huge deck; huge, swanky kitchen; washer and dryer just for us; our own garage (with giant fold-down worktable) plus a parking spot. We tried to buy a condo nearby and when that went for $100k-plus over asking, we consoled ourselves by renting this place. And I can walk to work around the lake. (Husband takes express bus, 18 minutes to downtown SF). I love Oakland!

$1300 for 1200 sq ft. two bedroom 'railroad' flat on 6th Avenue near Lincoln. The rent was $1100 when we moved in 12 years ago. No parking, and small yard, laundry. Great neighbours.

We just moved out July 31st. The owner paid us $18k to move, which we put into buying an apartment in the same neighbourhood.

Perhaps we can have a survey of how much landlords are offering tenants to move out?

2675 for a 1500 sf 2 bed , 2 bath with laundry and garage parking/storage in ashbury heights. Small patio and garden (shared with upstairs neighbors) out back.

Moved in one year ago.

What do you do if your rent is exactly $1500?

$1650 for a 1000+ sq ft loft in the besler building in emeryville. old building, cool spaces but i'm thinking more and more that my rent is too steep.

I think I've got a good deal but I keep thinking I could do better. $1235 for a 600sf Edwardian 1 BR in the Castro. Two bay windows, crown moldings, and a view!

$1200 for a studio in a sixties-era bulding, with skylight, fireplace, and good closets in the NoPa area. Hot water included; laundry in building; lovely view. I just moved in! Rents are more unpleasant than usual right now, but I'm happy with what I got.

$795 for a 400-square-foot studio in Hayes Valley. My main room is just 12 feet by 16 feet. I've lived in the same building since 1991. No view, tiny bathroom, practically zero counterspace, but I do have a separate kitchen with a small dining area (I use it as a home office), a pantry-like cabinet, four good-sized windows, and a walk-in closet with a storage platform. Any small repairs I don't make myself don't get made, and building upkeep is infrequent to nonexistent.

My boyfriend and I pay 1850 for a good-sized two bedroom in the mid-haight (or as I like to call it "Lower Buena Vista Heights"). Nice high Victorian ceilings and huge windows, bad bad bad closet space (fashioned out of the old fireplace space), second bedroom is our only real storage space. We've lived here for 2 years and were both in the Western Addition before that. We want to move out of this (foggy) neighborhood--and pay a bit less--but Craigslist has been so depressing lately. Hardly anything in any size in any location under 2k. Who is paying 5k and up a month for apartments???? I saw one on there today that is 10K a month. what the hell? (sorry, got a little rant-y)

Wow, it seems everyone has such cheap rent.

$1600 two bedroom, 750-800 sq ft, garage, private laundry, huge shared yard, yard maintenance, no shared walls(!!!), large patio, off-street parking. In West Berkeley.

$900/mo for 515 sqft one bedroom in Mountain View, walking distance to downtown (4 blocks). Completely redone before I moved in 3 years ago - crown molding, new carpets, new tile, new appliances, recessed lighting, new cabinets... Laundry in building. Water, garbage, and covered parking space included. It's not in a complex owned by a corporation. hooray!

$930 for a 800 sq/ft one bedroom apartment in a complex in the boring, foggy outer Sunset. All utilities are free: numbered parking stall, water, heat & electricity. It comes with a 12' window, walk in closet, and separate storage closet. I moved here 11 years ago, but I'll likely leave in a year or two, because I can't stand these shared walls much longer.

Wow Kristie, your place sounds just like the place I moved out of in Mountain View three years ago...! I moved to SF when my landlords were remodeling my detached cottage studio.

Now I pay $1050 for an in-law studio in Noe Valley/Glen Park (probably about 500 sq ft but i can't do math) with a covered deck, view of downtown sf, hardwood floors, giant separate kitchen, and tankless hot water. My landlords live upstairs and have never raised my rent. Street parking is a breeze, and the freeway is easy access for us commuting suckers. But the J Church is only two blocks away so I don't have to drive on weekends. Also, it's sunny!

$1400 for a 650sf one bedroom in "Mission Heights" (17th at Guerrero), moved in less than a year ago, no parking, no green space, no view. The building is very well maintained, the kitchen was re-done right before I moved in, and I have the cheapest unit in the building (thanks to the lack of view). Strange layout with very few long walls. See pics here. :)

"NoPa area"??? i lived in SF for 13 years and in the Bay Area for 21 and I've never heard that designation...it is where?

for a couple of years i had a studio at gough and sacramento...i called it the "polk heights" neighborhood, it being neither "pulk gulch" nor "pacific heights".

I know, I know...NoPa is perhaps a new and unnecessary designation for "north of panhandle". I resisted at first, and then it just kind of stuck. Further evidence is the new restaurant sporting the same name.

We pay $1100 for a cute, roomy two-story Doelger in Westlake, Daly City: two-bedrooms. kitchen, dining and living rooms, and one bath upstairs, another two rooms, a kitchenette and a bath down. It's way less than market, because we're renting from my partner's Mom; this is the house he grew up in, and we've just returned to it many years later.

Oops, 613 square feet, I mean. I just calculated for the AT:NY square footage survey.

I rent a studio + (with a nook for the bed) in outer Richmond for $1295 a month. It is all completely remodeled, but that still seems like a bit much.

I live in a 450 sqft studio near Piedmont Ave in Oakland. Secured Parking. Mostly remodeled (new floors, new bathroom, new counters), good natural light and lots of closet space. Pretty good deal, I am about a 10 minute walk from Piedmont Ave, Oakland Rose Garden, and 15 minute walk from Grand Ave. Only $795.

If you're rent is over $1500 a month, you're probably working too hard to have time to read ATSF.

These are good rents! It can be done. I lived in the city and Oakland for years and years and always lucked into something affordable. Now, $1630 in San Ramon, gives me a 1100 sq 2bd/2ba apartment in a park-like setting, the best public schools a single mom could imagine, in-unit washer/dryer and deck facing Japanese Maples is a great retreat.

i have a 330 square foot studio in the eastlake neighborhood of oakland two blocks from the shore of lake merritt and pay $750/month.