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→Gainesville
Gainesville is the University of Florida, the Gators, and a college town with serious natural assets: 30+ named springs within an hour's drive, including Ginnie, Devil's Den, and Ichetucknee for tubing. The food scene is solid and cheap (it's still a college town), and downtown's grown up with breweries and music venues. Surrounded by oak forests and prairie. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers got their start here.
full dispatch→02 · the money
Median rent
Median rent
$3,470/mo
$1,645/mo
$1,825/mo less than San Jose (111%)
Median home price
Median home price
$1.8M
$317k
$1.5M less than San Jose
State income tax
State income tax
9.3%
0%
Gross left after rent
Gross left after rent
$4,088/mo
$6,688/mo
Gainesville has $2,600/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
206 days
77 fewer than San Jose
Extreme heat days
Extreme heat days
19 days
17 days
days above 95°F per year
Extreme cold days
Extreme cold days
0 days
0 days
days below 20°F per year
San Jose edges ahead on pleasant days, but both cities have comparable comfort overall.
04 · the life
OutdoorScore
OutdoorScore
70 / 100
63 / 100
7.0 pts behind San Jose
Nonstop flights
Nonstop flights
29 routes
5 routes
24 fewer direct routes than San Jose
Metro size
Metro size
1.9M metro
350k metro
San Jose has 20.7x more events per month than Gainesville.
the verdict
3
San Jose
categories won
4
Gainesville
categories won
Gainesville wins on money. San Jose has the edge on weather and lifestyle.
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