Maybe if San Francisco did things differently, costs might look like other cities and counties in the Bay Area. Either way, it's going to be much more expensive than your typical city.
> costs might look like other cities and counties in the Bay Area
True, but most likely in a way that also reduced the cost in other cities and counties, because the high cost of SF has pushed people out to lower cost areas in the outskirts. If SF wasn't so expensive, more people from the surrounding area would live there, having the desire if price wasn't the issue, therefore reducing demand and thus costs for the outer areas.
