The number of people packing up and moving out of the Bay Area just hit its highest level in more than a decade.
Carole Dabak spent 40 years living in San Jose and now she’s part of the mass exodus that is showing no signs of slowing down.
The retired engineer’s packing up and calling it quits about to move to the state of Tennessee.
“I loved it here when I first got here. I really loved it here. But it’s just not the same,” Dabak said.
Of course people come and go from the Bay Area all the time, but for the first time in a long time, more people are leaving the Bay Area than are coming in. And the number one place in the country for out-migration is now, right here.And from the Mercury News:
Russell Hancock with Joint Venture Silicon Valley said, “Silicon Valley has been this place that is growing. And it was mostly due to 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....MORE
Why are all these Bay Area residents leaving?
You wouldn’t know it from navigating the gridlock these days on many of our local roads, but scores of people are fleeing the San Francisco Bay Area, fed up with nose-bleed housing prices, sky-high rents and soul-numbing traffic jams.
They’re finding greener pastures in Portland and Eugene, Austin and Denver, San Diego, Sacramento and LA.
And as my colleague Lou Hansen reported this week, people are leaving Silicon Valley as quickly as they are coming in. “Between July 2015 and July 2017, the region gained 44,732 immigrants but lost 44,102 residents to other parts of California and the country,” according to a new survey by Joint Venture Silicon Valley. “The population drops have been most notable on residents between the ages of 18 and 24, and between 45 and 64.”
With 16,000 residents heading for the exits during the last quarter of 2017, social media is exploding with first-person stories about getting the hell out of the Bay Area or dreaming about doing it, along with commentary from folks around the country who are watching this dramatic exodus with a curious mix of empathy, churlishness and schadenfreude.
Here’s what some of what people are saying, edited for clarity and length:
“A lot of friends are moving away,” “Kenny H.” writes on Yelp. “If they are not making over 80 grand a year, and want to live reasonably. Where are people deciding to move? I know a lot of foreign investors snatched up housing and made it too expensive to buy, or raised rent so high they see little point sticking around.”...MORE
