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S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

sfchronicle.com

281–290 of 465 posts

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#281
post #39
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why it isn't being mentioned. I am not in the Bay Area myself, but about half of my friends there have relocated in the last couple years. A bunch to Washington or Oregon, some to Texas, one to Nashville, and a few others to places mostly in the northeast. All of them cited cost of living as the primary reason ... but all also mentioned full time remote work is what finally made it possible to move. When…

Even if you like San Francisco on balance, it's hard not to ask yourself if you like it so much that you're OK with paying for some of the most expensive housing in the country when you don't have a reason you have to be there.

Like it or not, SF has the most vibrant tech community than anywhere else.

I live an hour away, and I make the painful, tedious drive up in rush-hour traffic at least once a week to meet up with some group or another in person. The alternative is the dreary, sleep-inducing vendor teleconferences that double as "meetups" on the Peninsula.

I'm strongly considering ditching the Peninsula and moving to SF for better networking and more diverse hangouts and career opportunities.

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#282

San Francisco has become a really hostile place to live even if you make $300,000+. My wife and I lived in Glen Park and it was still a shit hole. We had a meth head constantly breaking in and living in the parking garage of our building. Cops and landlord didn't care. I regularly saw people shooting heroin and smoking meth/crack on BART during rush hour. I was sick of seeing needles on the street and smelling urine.…

I with you here. Our neighbor had her apartment violently ransacked while she was at work. This is bad. What makes it evil, they waited for her to return - sitting in the apartment waiting for her to walk in. After the detective interview I had, i realized, I don't want to raise family here anymore. The detective agreed.

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have visited almost every major US cities including a lot of experience living in and near some of the “worst crime” cities. Cities where there really are streets you do not dare go. In San Francisco I never felt unsafe anywhere, even in the “worst” parts of town. That said, the concentration of homeless people when I last visited was unlike anything I had ever seen in a US city.

I'm a city native living in SF, but grew up all over the SFBAY including much, much rougher neighborhoods than anything I've experienced in SF. Several of my family members and myself have been assaulted/robbed in broad daylight, had cars stolen, and some have been shot by stray bullets due to a local gang fight. When I was in grade school someone brought a gun to class and showed it off by pointing it at me (!!) — a…

Generally, I feel like the Mercury News homicide map is a good representation of the roughness of the area, and it doesn't look like SF is as different from those areas as you propose. From the looks of it, it's one step up from dead last, Oakland.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/01/04/bay-area-homicides-20...

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#284

I think remote work is often understated in reasons people move away. When you go into the office every day, it's pretty obvious that you have to live in whatever city you live in. But with remote work, the question becomes "if I don't have to live here, do I want to keep living here". For many (including myself), the answer was a definitive NO. Sure many headlines and news segments make it seem that it's the crime,…

Many SF tech companies would love to not allow remote work again, but I think they can't really pull that off anymore. The argument "the company can't function that way" has been demolished during COVID days, so it'd be very hard for companies to go back. And the more companies allow it, the less leverage the ones that don't have.

That said, a lot of people that worked in SF didn't live in SF even back then. They may live in Oakland, Redwood City, Mountain View, all the way from Walnut Creek to Los Gatos or Milpitas. Now they can just avoid the multi-hour commute - and I think that's a win.

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are good reasons why people don't like SF but why should people who do like SF care or try to convince them otherwise? I don't like Dallas but I don't think people who do like Dallas need to get out of their headspace and change things for my benefit. Obviously SF has problems and no one loves SF who doesn't want to improve the homeless issue. It doesn't make them wrong to love the city.

Do you know the excitement that surrounds stories like this on foxnews? They want liberal Democrat cities to fail so they can blame leadership as an example

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Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#286
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is probably more a function of population. I regularly see Florida plates in Washington.

I live in Missouri and people who have lived on my street for decades have Florida plates. They must have property there and claim it as residency for tax purposes

A ton of license plates with oranges on them here in the Bay Area, too.

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20-30 years ago San Francisco was considered... a nightmarish hellscape. Until the first dotcom boom the city was in decline, or at least that's how the story goes. My understanding is that at that time it also had a booming art scene and was going through an awesome counter culture phase that birthed Burning Man. Maybe that's what's ahead now that everyone is leaving? Videos showing the drug problem are terrifying t…

I first visited SF at the start of the .com boom in 1996 when I had friends living there. Rent controlled apartment, 3 bedroom for something like $1100 USD. Beautiful city, a bit grungy, with just a lot of neat stuff going on. Went to a few cool underground parties, ate well, saw a lot of good art, went to some good bookstores and other shops, and met some really neat people. I wanted to move there. Within a few year…

So my point being that supposedly around 1990 SF was in an awful decline etc. I wish I was alive in late 1990’s SF

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#288
post #135
post #37

One thing to note is that the 2021 population is an estimate , and if you are a Census buff as I am, and compare the Census' 2019 estimates to the 2020 actual populations (as calculated from the census), there are often very large differences. The article also says that CA's estimate of the population decline is much smaller, and arguably CA itself would have more accurate data for this particular metric (residency a…

I appreciate the point you are making, so I ask this genuinely: how confident are we in the census count? How confident are we usually, and how did that change given the hurdles the pandemic introduced?

See https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/pes-2020...

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#289
post #267

So many houses in my SF neighborhood are currently empty. They're single family homes so I'm not sure of the impact on the overall population, but it's been weird around here. - For sale and empty. - Full renovations. Guessing more than half are flipping them, given the speed which construction started after sale. - Investors buying homes and keeping them empty.

Some people renovate before moving in. Might as well customize it before the big move if you can afford it.

Re: S.F. population fell 6.3%, most in nation, to lowest level since 2010

#290
post #67

Anyone know stats on NYC? I'm having trouble understanding the current true state wrt to apartment rental pricing: many people left during Covid but I'm not quite sure if many of those in fact returned. Furthermore, it would seem as though rental inventory is quite low or at least demand is through the roof (typically one needs to be ready to sign on the spot) with little to no room to shop-around. Prices are also qu…

I think a lot of people got covid deals, and at over 12 month leases. For example, getting a 12 month lease plus some number of free months. Some of these people are still in their apartments. Meanwhile, a lot of people are trying to move to the city and there's just less space overall because of those deals.

My guess is that as those leases come to an end and some of those people move, the rent situation may get less crazy. But who knows.

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