“It’s just not the same anymore,” why San Francisco experiencing mass exodus of residents

The San Francisco Bay area has always been a place of shifting demographics, with people moving in or moving out. For years, the San Francisco Bay Area has experienced a lot of growth from people moving in, largely due to the major tech firms that the area can lay claim to. The astronomical cost of housing is adversely impacting the growth of the area.

But for the first time in a long time, the number of people leaving the Bay area is considerably greater than the number of people moving in, making this the number one place of outgoing migration in the US. Locals lay the blame on the sky high housing costs and political changes that have caused the area to morph. The sheer expense of living has become such that these tech giants are even beginning to experience difficulty in recruiting quality talent. CBSSF Bay Area Reports:

Russell Hancock with Joint Venture Silicon Valley said, “Silicon Valley has been this place that is growing. And it was mostly growing because…people relocating here and relocating from other parts of the world. That’s changing.”

Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s own study of the out-migration says workers are moving to Sacramento, Austin, and Portland due to a number of factors. But topping the list is the high cost of housing.

“You can’t even contemplate getting into the housing market here,” Hancock said. “And I don’t mean just service workers, I mean highly skilled professionals. The tech elite are having a hard time affording reasonable housing in Silicon Valley. So this is difficult, this makes it very difficult for employers trying to recruit.”

Operators of a San Jose U-Haul business say one of their biggest problems is getting its rental moving vans back because so many are on a one-way ticket out of town.
…Nationwide, the cities with the highest inflows, according to Redfin are Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Nashville.