I would hate to see an apartment in either NY (even in the far out areas) or San Francisco (or enrivons) that you could get for $700.00 a month. I'm sure in NYC there are some that exist that have been passed down for many years through the rent control system, but anyone's chances of landing one of those are a million to one.
At that price, and if you only want a city of a million people or larger, I would certainly think you're going to have to consider one of the newer sunbelt cities. I know from friends that $700.00 a month can get you a decent 1 bedroom apartment in most Texas cities if you can put aside any preconceived notions you have about Texas cities. You would never find an apartment for that price in Atlanta in the main gay area (Midtown). Frankly Atlanta gays have been priced out of Midtown for years now and are branching out far and wide.
Sounds to me like you're probably looking for a trophy city and as far as the gays are concerned we all know there are only 4 in America (NYC, LA, SF, and Miami). So I would think you're going to have to look at having 1 or more roommates if you want to live in the type of city it looks like you want to live in, at the price you feel you can pay.
I'm not sure why it is so hard for some people that post on this board to understand: people DO find places in Brooklyn (yes, with ROOMMATES. WE'RE STUDENTS!!) for 700/m and I'm sure that could happen in SF too. I've been living with roommates since I moved here and I thought it went without saying that finding cheap places in the good cities definitely requires roommates, I expected that. And lol, no, for fucks sake, I will not move to texas.

