Go to Portland, Denver, or Austin ! ;)
3 great and growing american cities with a better quality of life than NY, SF or LA. More affordable, great outdoors, bike friendly, reasonable size, mid-size town feeling, welcoming and open-minded people.
As you will be here for one year as a student from abroad, you will find your place more easily than LA/SF/NY.
And you will save a bunch of money with housing. That will leave you money for activities and leisure. What's the point to live in a foreign city if you can not afford anything to do, except staying in your bedroom of 150 sqf ?
If you are still really up to NY/SF/LA, I would chose Boston ! ;)
NY :
Amazing city but crazy expansive. Ranked as the 4th most expensive city in the world, 1st of North America.
The numbers :
Average rent for a studio : 1900USD + 102USD (utilities) = 2002 USD
Monthly public transportation plan : 117USD
Total for average studio+transport = 2119 USD/month (Good luck)
Comments:
If you go there, go to Georgetown, the Upper West Side is one of the best neighborhoods in NY. A perfect mix between a quiet neighborhood feeling and a "being in Manhattan feeling". And it's next to Central Park.
When I stay in Manhattan, I don't wanna be anywhere else.
The subway goes everywhere but is not really efficient (super old, always delayed and it takes forever to go from point A to point B).
But in NY, everyone rushes all the time. So it's stressful.
I love to go in NY... as much as I love to leave NY...
SF :
Smaller than NY but crazy expensive as well. Ranked the 5th most expansive city in the world, 2nd in North America.
The numbers :
Average rent for a studio : 2395USD + 75USD (utilities) = 2470 USD
Monthly public transportation plan : 89USD
TOTAL for average studio+transport = 2559 USD/month (Good luck too)
Comments :
For housing, it's even more expansive than NY. Why SF is just behind in the "overall cost of living" is because everything else is a little bit less pricey (transportation, leisure, food,..). But not that much.
No one can afford to live in SF anymore (except if you are the CEO of a unicorn tech company), so everyone lives outside, like in San Matteo, Oakland, etc...
And SF is now a weird mix of hi tech billionaires, homeless and hippies. Different worlds colliding...
And manypeople living in SF are now a bit grumpy, because of that crazy increasing cost of living.
LA :
More affordable than NY and SF, but still pricey. Ranked as the 24th most expensive city in the world, 7th in the North america.
The numbers :
Average rent for a studio : 1247USD + 96USD (utilities) = 1343 USD
Monthly public transportation plan : 100USD
TOTAL for average studio+transport = 1443 USD/month
Comments :
LA is huge and widespread and the public transportation is terrible.
It means that if you live there, you choose carefully your neighborhood and you stick to it. Which, in your case, means close to your university. And close to your university equals a rental rate higher than the average one of LA, so I think you have to add min 200-300 USD to the housing bill that I mentionned (which was based on general-average stats for the entire city), It takes you to 1700-1800 USD/month for studio + transport.
LA is sunny all year round and if you are close to the beach, it helps ;)
Atmosphere there is also more laidback.
Boston :
Big city (ok not so big) but with a mid-size town feeling. Still pricey too.
Ranked as the 19th most expensive in the world, 5th in North America.
The numbers
Average rent for a studio : 1567USD + 117USD (utilities) = 1684 USD
Monthly public transportation plan : 86 USD
Total for average studio+transport = 1770 USD/month
Comments :
The good news is that most of the universities / colleges are in Cambridge, a very nice "small town of its own" with a student community feeling and some beautiful, green and clean neighborhoods (which is not always the case in NY-SF-LA). And that the public transportation is effective and fast. So you can live in different parts of the city and get connected easily. For example, you can live in Northern Boston (Somerville, Davis Square,...), it's less expensive and you can go quite easily to Cambridge or Boston Midtown.
People are friendly and educated and you will find your own place more easily than in the 3 other cities.
The Logan Airport is really easy to go to (as an expat, it can be a good point) and NY is not far for some WE city trips ;)
And you are also close to upper New England, like Vermont or Maine, for some great outdoors escapades.
Now it's your choice, but don't forget that there could be a big difference in the cities you will love as a tourist and the cities you will love to live in permanently.
And usually, these cities are not the same ones...