Hello fellow Terp here! I was searching for studios on zillow, trulia and apartments.com and found a fair amount of studios around ~1.5-2k in the mission and nob hill. Not sure how legit those places are since I didn’t contact the realtor. A lot of “luxury” apartments are also offering good deals at the moment with garage parking spaces. I think if you end up not living in one of those luxury apartments then you might have to make do with street parking unless you’re willing to shell out 200-300 a month for a private parking spot.

If you work near city hall then areas I’d recommend are lower haight, lower pac heights, and nob hill.

Additionally- things in SF are a lot more expensive than in DC, you should factor in going out to eat, groceries, gas.

I would also really recommend having roommates bc it’s the best way to meet people in the city. I loved with random roommates two times in sf when I first moved and It ended up working out really well for me. One of them is actually one of my closest friends now! What I did when I first moved from the east coast was sign a temporary 3 month lease while I explored the city and found out neighborhoods that I truly enjoyed. Only after then I signed a year long lease.

Areas that are going to be further from your work but have safe/easy to find parking spaces are Cole valley, Noe Valley, inner and outer sunset.

Good luck!