I hate to sound callous but... no? Why would everyone be entitled to live in a 1bd apartment in the middle of the most expensive cities in the US?
From a strict supply/demand question, there are vastly more people in the country that might want a 1bd in SF than there are 1bd apartments. If not by price, how else are you going to allocate them?
Someone working a full-time job should be able to support at least themselves, if not a family. If you contribute half your waking life to supporting society, and in a role that society has determined is needed enough to employ you at, then what society gives you in exchange should be at the very least enough to support yourself. It's just a basic standard of a decent society.
That doesn't imply that "everyone should be entitled to whatever they want" in the negative way you're thinking of.
Not long ago I lived in Morehead, Kentucky while my wife finished up nursing school. We lived in a cute 2bd house walking distance from downtown for $425/mo. Our grocery bills were $120/week and included meat/fish, fresh veggies, and wine for every meal. We did a lot of hiking and rock climbing. I learned to play the banjo.
It's not a booming economy but they have the same minimum wage jobs that they have everywhere else. If you are content with that (and I say this without judgement - many people get their life's meaning outside of work) then there are plenty of places in the US where you can have a comfortable life. Just not expensive cities.
I don't think $1500 is what it now costs to live in the middle of some cool city, but basically that's what it costs to live deep in suburbia in any city with a lot of jobs. It's not just SF or NYC, but pretty much all major metros in the top 20 or so.
In DC, I might pay $2500 to live in a decent 1BR in a hip part of the downtown area.
Or I could pay $1500 to live 40 miles away with a 90 minute commute and $5 in tolls, each way, in some new developer community.
There is no $1k 1BR apartment anywhere in the metro,
unless I'm sharing a room off Craigslist or living with illegals or college kids in a house share.
For a late 30s, single professional with a decent salary in the US, not only is it kind of depressing that buying a home is nearly impossible nowadays in the same cities where a our parents easily afforded it with similar jobs but also a few kids, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to even assume my own private tiny apartment.
> I don't think $1500 is what it now costs to live in the middle of some cool city, but basically that's what it costs to live deep in suburbia in any city with a lot of jobs. It's not just SF or NYC, but pretty much all major metros in the top 20 or so.
$1260 will get you a 1br in downtown Atlanta.[1]
In Midtown, which is much nicer, a 1br will run you $1400-1600.[2] From personal experience, there are also some not-so-nice parts of Midtown where you can rent a whole 2br house for that much.
If you're willing to drive a bit you can get a 1br for around $900.[3] It takes 12-28 minutes to get from here to downtown in rush hour traffic.
I just looked at those links - none of them were even close to $900. They had crazy ranges like $1400-$2000 / month, so even at the cheapest, with fees, you're looking at $1500 to live in a general suburban area where you'd definitely need a car.
And this is Atlanta, which for the last 10 years has been one of those 'cheaper' cities that millennials have been told to move to because the coasts are too expensive.
I make over 6 figures and could easily afford a 1 BR, but like I said, it's kind of depressing that a professional in his late 30's who supposedly makes in the top 90% of salaries is now considering a $1500 tiny apartment in a 'cheap city' to be obtainable.
Or a one bedroom that is 45 minutes by public transit from the heart of DC all for less than $1200/month? Seems you're exaggerating your extremes.
Now, I haven't checked all 567 listings, personally, but I have to assume at least one of them isn't a listing for a room with "illegals or college kids", or any other group you find objectionable as roommates.
Not sure if you're being humorous or probably just not familiar with DC. Both of those cozy apartments are in SE DC. I'm being a 100% serious when I say that if I moved to those apartments, as a white guy, I'd almost certainly be a victim of violent crime within a few months. I wouldn't even get off the metro in those neighborhoods.
From a strict supply/demand question, there are vastly more people in the country that might want a 1bd in SF than there are 1bd apartments. If not by price, how else are you going to allocate them?