01 · the cities
San Jose
San Jose is Silicon Valley's anchor city, much bigger than San Francisco by population, and culturally underrated because everyone drives through it on the way somewhere else. The Vietnamese food scene (especially in Little Saigon) is one of the best in the country. The weather is impossibly mild, the Santa Cruz Mountains rise to the west, and the tech money funds a genuinely excellent restaurant scene.
full dispatch→Boise
Boise is basically Denver before Denver got Denver-y: walkable downtown, foothills you can run into on your lunch break, and a river slicing right through the middle of town. The Basque Block downtown anchors the biggest Basque community in the U.S., which nobody sees coming. The vibe is 'we close our laptops and go outside,' and the trails make that very easy to do. Locals would prefer you didn't tell anyone.
full dispatch→02 · the money
Median rent
Median rent
$3,470/mo
$1,794/mo
$1,676/mo less than San Jose (93%)
Median home price
Median home price
$1.8M
$490k
$1.3M less than San Jose
State income tax
State income tax
9.3%
5.8%
Gross left after rent
Gross left after rent
$4,088/mo
$6,056/mo
Boise has $1,968/mo more gross after rent at $100k
Gross left after rent reflects state income tax but not federal, based on $100k salary. Enter your salary to find your ideal city.
03 · the weather
Pleasant days/yr
Pleasant days/yr
283 days
166 days
117 fewer than San Jose
Extreme heat days
Extreme heat days
19 days
27 days
days above 95°F per year
Extreme cold days
Extreme cold days
0 days
24 days
days below 20°F per year
Boise has 8 more days above 95°F each year than San Jose. Boise drops below 20°F on 24 more days per year than San Jose.
04 · the life
OutdoorScore
OutdoorScore
70 / 100
82 / 100
12.0 pts ahead of San Jose
Nonstop flights
Nonstop flights
29 routes
16 routes
13 fewer direct routes than San Jose
Metro size
Metro size
1.9M metro
827k metro
San Jose has 1.6x more events per month than Boise.
the verdict
4
San Jose
categories won
5
Boise
categories won
Boise wins on money. San Jose has the edge on weather.
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