For the second year in a row, Bay Area residents are offering one of the most powerful critiques imaginable of their home:
Most people who live here plan to leave.
A new survey found more than half (53%) of registered voters queried by the Bay Area News Group and Joint Venture Silicon Valley say they’re likely to move out of the region in the next few years. It’s a sentiment felt by the young more than the old, by Republicans more than Democrats, and by the poor more than the wealthy — but it cuts across every group.
“There are things about the Bay Area that are really troubling,” said Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Venture, a business and labor consortium. Those who intend to flee cited housing costs, quality of life, taxes and homelessness as the most powerful motivators.
Even some of those set on staying aren’t happy about it: Of those who don’t plan to leave the Bay Area, 15% said they want to move, but can’t.
The discontent showed up in the news group’s initial Bay Area poll, in 2019, but at the time just 47% were eyeing the exits. By 2021, it had hit 56%. The Bay Area’s population shrank last year for the second year in a row, with big drops in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland, according to a recent state Department of Finance report.
The desire to flee hasn’t affected everyone equally. Younger voters are more likely to want to get out, with 56% of voters age 18-34 saying they’re likely to leave, compared to just 40% of voters 65 and older.
People of color also are more eager to pack their bags — 59% of Hispanic voters, 57% of Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, and 53% of Black voters said they are likely to leave, compared to 47% of White voters.
Sabrina Dooley, 52, moved to San Francisco three years ago and hasn’t found the city welcoming to African American residents like herself. She struggles to find food, clothing and music that she relates to. And she gets the sense the region doesn’t care about diversity, or about its low-income residents.
As soon as she can, she plans on moving to Detroit, where the median sale price for a single-family home was $83,000 in August, according to Redfin.
“I got three years to retire, and then I’m leaving,” she said. “I’m out of here.”
Lower-income and unemployed residents also are more likely to be thinking about leaving. While 57% of those making less than $35,000 a year said they’re likely to move, 41% of those making between $250,000 and $499,999 said they are likely to get out.
Even among the wealthy, the Bay Area apparently has lost its charm. Of those making more than $500,000, 57% said they plan to leave.
Another split can be seen among the respondents based on political affiliation. Republicans are more likely to be plotting their escape (71%) compared to Democrats (44%) and Independents (59%), as the state continues to take firmly liberal positions on issues such as gun control and abortion.
