The AI boom is bringing a wave of startups to San Francisco, and employees are receiving generous benefits in one of the country’s priciest housing markets.
Roy Lee, CEO of AI tech startup Cluely, which makes software for job interviews and work calls, told The New York Times that he leased eight apartments for employees in a recently-built luxury complex situated just a one-minute walk away from the office. The rents in the 16-story building range from $3,000 to $12,000 a month.
“Going to the office should feel like you’re walking to your living room, so we really, really want people close,” Lee told The Times on Thursday.
Flo Crivello, CEO of Lindy, another AI startup, said he offers his approximately 40 employees a $1,000 rent stipend every month if they live within a 10-minute walk of the company’s office.
“People are so much happier and healthier when they live close to work,” he told The Times. “This makes them stick around for longer, perform better and work longer hours.”
The AI boom has drawn a flood of money and talent to San Francisco, inflating rent in the process. The Bay Area has attracted 70% of AI venture capital funding nationwide since 2019, according to data from Pitchbook.
Across the U.S. And Canada, the pool of tech workers with AI skills jumped more than 50% to 517,000 from mid-2024 to mid-2025, according to a September CBRE report. The San Francisco Bay Area, New York metro and Seattle are the top U.S. Markets for AI-specialty talent, accounting for 35% of the national total, the report said.
Meanwhile, fully remote working arrangements for open positions have declined, and more employers are adopting hybrid arrangements requiring tech talent to spend three or more days in the office. In San Francisco alone, 1 out of every 4 square feet of office space was leased by an AI company over the last two and a half years, according to CBRE.
Tightness in the office market is also seen in the residential sector. Over the past year, apartment prices in San Francisco rose 6%, on average, more than twice the 2.5% increase experienced in New York City and the highest rate in the nation, according to real estate tracker CoStar data cited by The Times. In hot spots like Mission Bay, near OpenAI’s headquarters, rents climbed 13% recently.
Average rent for a San Francisco apartment is now $3,315 a month, just below New York City’s, the nation’s highest at $3,360.
A September report from real estate tech company Zumper said San Francisco’s housing market bucked the national trend of flat or falling prices and instead saw the strongest annual growth across the country for two-bedroom rent, which surged 17.1%. One-bedroom rent climbed 10.7%, the third-highest increase in the nation, the report said.
The report points to a “perfect storm” of tech-sector hiring and stricter return-to-office mandates driving more renters into the city as well as supply-chain constraints. The city’s vacancy rate has fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, and new housing construction is at its weakest pace in a decade, the report added.
Will Goodman, a principal at Strada Investment Group, which developed the luxury complex where Cluely leased its eight apartments, told The Times that half of the 501 units in the complex were leased within two months of its May opening.
“Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” he said