<prompt> Human: Hi everyone, I have been considering moving from a medium sized city to San Jose, CA. This is a pretty big life decision for me, and right now I am just trying to put together what exactly I should be planning for. What factors should I be considering? Are there any good relocation blogsbooks that I can read up on to make the relocation as smooth as possible? Any advice on San Jose or relocating in general would be greatly helpful.---If you want a few more details on my situation-1 Making about 50k in a public accounting job in FL, not really concerned about finding employment. I would love to start living in San Jose to specialize in tech companies, and because I was born in CA. I just feel really nostalgic about that west coast culture. 2 For the first 5 years, I would prefer a studio apartment for 2k-3k. I am not very concerned with luxury apartments; just want a space to live and good location to downtown. I am not sure if this is feasible. How plentiful are studio apartments in the heart of downtown San Jose? My job requires ridiculous hours sporadically throughout the year, so if I can minimize commute, that would be great.3 A bit of a continuation to the last question... can I even expect to drive on my own in San Jose, if I live downtown? Or will I have to use public transportation? 4 Bit of a worst case scenario... say it is indeed impractical to get an apartment in my price range and still so close to the city. Do most people live outside of San Jose and then make a long drive to the city? Where do you recommend to live outside of San Jose that has cheaper apartments, but still has a somewhat manageable commute? At the very worst, I would be okay with traveling an hour each way.  <response>: San Jose is pretty spread out, and there are plenty of places to live within San Jose that arent in the heart of downtown - west San Jose, Evergreen, south side. San Jose is also surrounded by suburbs that are small cities in their own right and usually have marginally cheaper housing, like Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. That being said, you could absolutely find a studio or 1 bedroom for 2-3k and on the nicer end of apartments downtown. San Jose isnt NYC - youll be pretty car-dependent if you want to leave downtown, and its not unreasonable to have a car while youre living downtown. Take a look around Craigslist to get an idea of prices and what sort of quality youll get for the prices youre looking for.On a side note, though, 3k is far too much for rent if youre anticipating making 50k once you move. 