In this video, lawyer‑turned‑real‑estate agent Austin Klar outlines where San Francisco’s wealthiest residents live and why they choose those neighborhoods. He begins with Pacific Heights, describing its famed “Billionaires Row,” massive mansions, expansive lots, iconic views, and a mix of historic homes and secure high‑rise/co‑op buildings with doormen and attended lobbies. He highlights walkability, nearby parks (Presidio, Lafayette, Alta Plaza), and local dining on Fillmore and Sacramento Streets. Next, Klar moves to the adjacent Presidio Heights, noting its quieter, more private feel, larger lots, similar architecture, easy access to Sacramento Street amenities, the Presidio parkland, and the Presidio Golf Course. He then profiles Seacliff, a master‑planned, low‑density community on the northwest cliffside offering detached homes with true front/back yards, unobstructed ocean and Golden Gate views, and a peaceful, car‑dependent lifestyle despite limited nearby services. Klar briefly mentions other affluent enclaves: Dolores Heights (home to Mark Zuckerberg’s large house), Russian Hill’s 999 Green Street penthouse (once owned by George Shultz), and South Beach’s amenity‑rich buildings near Michelin‑star restaurants. Throughout, he emphasizes factors that attract billionaires—views, privacy, security, amenities, and commute convenience—while noting that one‑bedroom units can be purchased for just under $1 million, making these areas accessible to high‑income but not ultra‑rich buyers. He concludes by inviting viewers to comment, offering personal relocation assistance, and linking to related videos about moving to Marin County and his favorite Marin town, Ross.
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San Francisco ranks top 10 for the number of billionaire residents with over 50 living in the city. But where do they live? Why do they choose to live there? I'm Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent in San Francisco and Marin County, and I'm gonna break all that down in this video. I'm gonna break down where San Francisco's top earners like Larry Ellison, Jensen Hughes, Brian Chesky, and so many other titans of tech and finance live and why. So let's get right to it and kick it off with Pacific Heights. It should be no surprise that Pacific Heights is on the list because it is home to the aptly named Billionaires Row or Broadway's Gold Coast. It's a 3-block stretch between Divisadero and Lyon Streets on Broadway, and you will find the absolute most spectacular mansions in all of San Francisco there. I'm talking 10,000 square feet plus with some of the city's largest lots, incredible views of the Presidio, Golden Gate Bridge, the bay, and the city. But it's not just on Billionaires Row. The mega rich have set up their residences all over Pacific Heights, some just a block away from Billionaires Row, others several blocks away from Billionaires Row. There are so many different streets in the area with these incredible vistas of the entire San Francisco Bay and the city. And it's not just historic mansions they choose to live in there. Several— Several. High-rise and mid-rise, pre-war co-op, and modern amenity buildings throughout the area. And unlike a lot of these houses, those buildings offer a lot of safety and security because they all have attended lobbies, doormen, people taking in your packages so they're not left outside. People aren't able to walk right up to your front door and say hi. So a lot of them prefer that style of living as opposed to living in a house. Why do they choose Pacific Heights? Well, aside from the incredible views and the large lots and large homes, there are so many amenities in the area. The area is easily walkable east to west and conveniently located next to some incredible parks like the Presidio, Lafayette Park, Alta Plaza Park. I live one block away from Alta Plaza Park. It's one of my favorite parks in the city. It is a flat walk getting there. It has basketball courts, tennis courts, and 360 views of the bay and the city. It's awesome. I've lived there for over 4 years and I walk to the grocery store, I walk to coffee, to the park. It's super easy to get around. You don't have to be so heavily car dependent living there. There are also plenty of incredible food options along Fillmore Street and Sacramento Street. And immediately outside of Pacific Heights on Union Street in Cow Hollow, Chestnut Street in the Marina, Hyde Street in Russian Hill, and Clement Street in the Richmond. And it's only about 10 to 15 minutes drive to downtown San Francisco. So if you need to get to downtown for work, for example, it is really easy to do. If you want to learn more about why I chose to make Pacific Heights my home and how it stacks up against other neighborhoods, I'll link a couple of videos in the description below that go over all that. Definitely check them out and make sure to subscribe to my channel because I make a ton of videos just like this, talking about all the different areas in the city, the different architecture, lifestyles, you name it. Back to the neighborhood. One of the neighborhoods immediately west of Pacific Heights is another favorite of the rich and famous, Presidio Heights. Presidio Heights is very similar to Pacific Heights in terms of architecture, except it's a lot smaller neighborhood and a lot more private, a lot less traffic going through Presidio Heights, a lot less main thoroughfares in Presidio Heights, so it's a lot more private and tends to be quieter and more peaceful. Just like Pacific Heights, the area is mostly flat traveling from east to west. You do get some hills in the north to south direction,, but it's a lot less hilly than Pacific Heights in that direction. Lots in Presidio Heights also tend to be a lot larger than the average lot in San Francisco, about 50% larger than the standard 2,500 square foot lot. Sacramento Street, which has a lot of great interior design stores and restaurants in Pacific Heights, runs through Presidio Heights, so you have easy access to those amenities as well. My favorite restaurant in the city, Spruce, is on Sacramento Street in Presidio Heights, walkable from pretty much anywhere you live in the neighborhood. It is an incredible spot. You definitely need to go there if you're in the neighborhood. And the Presidio is literally the neighborhood's backyard. Great place for anyone who loves the outdoors. I go on runs through the Presidio all the time from Pacific Heights all the way west into Presidio Heights and through the Presidio down to the water. One of the best run routes in the city. Beautiful views, great weather, and a lot of different elevations. So it's a great exercise. And if you like golf, the Presidio Golf Course is right here. They have a driving range. People play there at all times of day during the week. Really awesome spot with beautiful scenery. As I said before, the housing stock here from an architectural perspective, very similar to what you get in Pacific Heights, except Presidio Heights is a lot less dense. Tense, so you don't have as many, you know, taller high-rise buildings or mid-rise buildings, multi-family buildings in Presidio Heights as you do in Pacific Heights, and you have a lot more detached homes in Presidio Heights than you do in Pacific Heights. But in both of them, no matter which one you choose, you will find a ton of craftsmen's, Victorians, and your fair share of modern homes as well. Now, even though very well-famous people live in all of these neighborhoods that I'm talking about, you don't need billions of dollars to actually live here. one-bedroom start a little bit under $1 million. So yes, still expensive, but you don't need millions and millions of dollars to live here. So you still can have access to the day-to-day lifestyle and all the great amenities of these areas without being mega rich. Next up is Seacliff, and this might be the most remote and most quiet neighborhood in all of San Francisco. Seacliff is very unique. It is one of 8 master-planned communities in San Francisco. These communities were designed over a century ago to have a suburban park-like feel in an otherwise very urban environment. And there are characteristics very unique to these master-planned communities, and in particular Seacliff. First, and what I think makes Seacliff Homes among the most desirable in San Francisco, is they are fully detached. They have true front setbacks and side setbacks, so you get true side yards, true front yards, true backyards. The lots tend to be a lot larger than your average lot in San Francisco, so you're not abutting your neighbors, you're not living in what is effectively a townhouse. You are fully detached, fully private, and have light coming into your house on all sides. So in places like Pacific Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights where you can spend $10 million and still be literally touching your neighbors. A lot less likely to get that in Seacliff. There are detached homes in Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights for sure, but there are a lot more of them in Seacliff. Seacliff is at the northwest end of San Francisco, built literally on a cliffside. A lot of the homes have the ocean as their backyard, literally unobstructed views of the Golden Gate Bridge and of the Pacific Ocean. One of the rare communities in San Francisco that actually has true ocean views as opposed to bay views. Residents love Seacliff because of how peaceful and safe it is. There are no businesses here, so no grocery stores, no restaurants, no bars. It is literally just housing. So it is very, very relaxing, peaceful, very safe, and it's not really a main thoroughfare to get to other parts of San Francisco. It is more on the remote side. So the most common people coming here are actually the residents. You don't get a huge commuter population here. Now, even though there aren't businesses in Seacliff itself, you are not totally remote from fun things to do in San Francisco. you are very close to the beach, you're very close to the shops and restaurants along Clement Street, and you are a short drive away from the shops and restaurants in Pacific and Presidio Heights. It's also very easy to get to the Golden Gate Bridge from Seacliff and to get to all the shops and restaurants in the Marina and in Cow Hollow, like on Union Street and Chestnut Street. One of the downsides of living in Seacliff is that it is rather far from downtown. There aren't really a lot of public transit options from Seacliff to get to downtown, so you're most likely going to be driving, and it might take you 25 to 30 minutes depending on traffic on a particular day. And these are just 3 of the most popular areas. There are so many other neighborhoods in San Francisco where San Francisco's rich and famous settle down. Mark Zuckerberg famously constructed an over 7,000-square-foot house in the Dolores Heights neighborhood on the South Central side of San Francisco. Weather there is a lot better than it is in Seacliff. Seacliff, as you can see behind me, is a lot gloomier more of the time because it is so close to the ocean, whereas Dolores Heights on the other side of San Francisco is very warm in comparison and relatively sunny most of the time. , but it does get incredibly hilly over there, whereas Seacliff is very mild hills, very walkable, mostly flat, wide open streets. And there are penthouse units across the city in some very well-renowned buildings, like the penthouse at 999 Green Street in Russian Hill, which was owned by the former Secretary of State and now deceased George Shultz. It sits at the top of Russian Hill and had 360-degree views of the entire city, of the bay. It was spectacular and sold for $29 million. And there are units at several amenity buildings in South Beach that routinely trade to San Francisco's rich and famous. The South Beach area is relatively flat, has typically warmer weather, and is close to the waterfront. And it is steps from some of San Francisco's best restaurants, multiple Michelin-star restaurants in the area. And one of the advantages of living in one of these amenity buildings versus single-family homes in Seacliff, Pac Heights, and Pacific Heights is that you can't just walk right up to the front door. Here I can go knock on anybody's front door. In these amenity buildings, in contrast, you have attended lobbies, you have doormen, you have security. So it provides a little bit more comfort to people who otherwise might want more privacy. There are so many reasons to choose any of these areas and reasons not to choose a lot of these areas. I want to know what you think in the comments, so let me know below and I'll respond to as many as possible. And if you made it to this point in the video, chances are you're looking to relocate in the Bay Area. I moved to San Francisco over a decade ago from Orange County to work as a lawyer in downtown San Francisco. I moved here without knowing much of anything about the various neighborhoods and only having been to San Francisco on vacation a couple of times when I was a kid, so I know how difficult it can be finding the exact right place to live. So if you need a resource, definitely reach out to me. My contact info is in the description below. I will answer every call, email, and text, and I'm more than happy to help you. And if you think San Francisco might not be the right place for you, I've got a video explaining why so many people are leaving San Francisco and moving to Marin County to find their forever home. I'll link that at the top of the description below. And if San Francisco isn't the right neighborhood for you, I've got a video explaining why so many people are leaving San Francisco and moving across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County to find their forever home. Hello. I've helped several clients move out of SF into Marin, so I know the pros and cons of both. I know the neighborhoods in both, and I'm happy to help. And if you're curious where I'd live in Marin County if I had an unlimited budget, I've got a video on that as well, explaining the pros and cons of my favorite neighborhood in the area, the town of Ross. I'll link that at the top as well. Go check it out. I hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.
