Data software company ESRI recently released a map titled, “Is the American Dream Still Affordable?” The data indicated that not only is the entire Bay Area pretty unaffordable (which you already knew), but absolutely no neighborhood in San Francisco is even close to being affordable to its residents. 

Per Curbed SF, ESRI used census information and the Housing Affordability Index (HAI) to determine what places were affordable to live in America. Affordable locations are in the lightest shade of gray on the map, while unaffordable locations range from light red to almost black, depending on how unaffordable it is. The San Francisco area was almost totally black.

A total HAI score of 100 indicates an average amount of affordability, anything over means it's easy to buy homes in that location, and anything under indicates the area is not affordable to current residents.

From most affordable to least affordable in the city, here is how San Francisco neighborhoods stacked up:

  1. Presidio actually came up on the map as affordable, with a HAI score of 141 where only 32.5 percent of residents’ income going to their housing. This may be because Presidio only has one percent homeowners in its zip code.
  2. The Marina area is just barely under the line of affordability, at a HAI score of 98, and a total of 38.8 percent of residents’ income going toward housing.
  3. Castro (the Noe Valley region) had a HAI score of 82, taking 39.4 percent of residents’ income for housing.

The last three neighborhoods are so far behind the average affordable HAI score, and yet are simultaneously some of the most famous locations in the city. From most affordable to least, here are the bottom three:

  1. The SoMa neighborhood has the very low HAI score of 40, with 60.5 percent of residents’ income going toward housing.
  2. The Tenderloin district came in as the second-least affordable neighborhood in San Francisco with a HAI score of 22 and an insane 110.3 percent of income taken for housing.
  3. The very least affordable neighborhood in The City is Chinatown. With a HAI of 20 and 139.4 percent of income headed toward housing, residents in this area are not living in affordable housing.