Per the article, this is based on an analysis of 1,200 searches done on their platform. It seems like a stretch to use those figures to reach conclusions for a city of over 800,000 residents.
> last year, there were 980 move searches involving the Bay Area [in the same time period]<p>This is microscopic data to make any sort of claim about migration patterns. I live in Denver, and read a similar article a few years ago (more people were moving out than moving in). Didn't seem to have much of an impact on housing prices or the job market, because it wasn't a sustained, significant trend.
anecdotal, but I know some young folks who are planning to pack it up and head out after their contractually obligated time is over and their lease is up.<p>My younger sibling, like many, is very annoyed that their early years of marriage without kids/california adventure is mostly being stuck in a 800 sqft apt and occasionally walking the dog. They love the bay, but having the small apartments combined with quarantine has got them reevaluating where they are and how their lives might look for the next $time while we figure out covid-19 as a country/species.<p>edit: my bad of the soft/sqft typo. seems my brain was trying to split the different between small and sqft and flubbed the landing.
There is an article like this every month, yet the Bay Area is consistently among the largest growing population centers in the country. I'll believe any of the claims the author makes once there are numbers to back it up.
I think a lot of is is also that if you are going to be WFH for the next several months, you can save a lot of money by no longer paying San Francisco-level rent. I know if my lease were expiring now I would not be living here until my job started telling everyone to come back to the office. I feel like that's going to have a much bigger effect than VC funding
> But there are many reasons why the region could finally be experiencing a shrinking population:<p>And yet the author is missing the elephant in the room: the incredibly deteriorating living conditions in a city crammed with drug addicts, human feces and casual violent aggressions at all hours of the day. A city that enables the "homeless lifestyle" without any accountability. Homelessness is - for the most part in San Francisco - a choice and/or a result of mental illness and drug addiction.<p>There is of course a certain amount of people that do become homeless because of lack of housing, but for the most part the city administration has been gaslighting us on the real causes: drug addiction and homeless lifestyle.<p>Most of them are not even native from San Francisco, but they come from elsewhere. I suggest everybody reads this article to learn more about the long history of criminality in San Francisco, enabled by the city officials: <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/san-francisco-homelessness" rel="nofollow">https://www.city-journal.org/san-francisco-homelessness</a><p>Edit: Everybody in San Francisco talks about the rights of the homeless, but where are my rights as a lawful tax payer who cannot bring his son to the park without risking his life by stepping on a needle?
A friend considered it after graduation. 3500 a month for a place in rent.<p>Eventually even with tech salaries that doesn’t make sense. He went to Seattle.
How does this compare to MoveBuddha's "regular" numbers? Maybe only the people who're moving out of SF are using MoveBuddha? It's an interesting insight, but I think there's a high chance it doesn't reflect the situation at large.
Interesting to see Columbus (I'm assuming OH) on that top 5 list. That means about 60 people were looking at moving to Columbus I guess? The other cities made sense to me, but Columbus was a stand out. The others just seemed like cities people looking to leave SF that would use movebuddah would be looking at.<p>I think it's still a major test market because it has the perfect demographics for that kind of thing.
I wonder what the figures really are when you separate regular people (if you'll forgive the loaded term) from the category of "super rich people who can afford $3,000/month rent or whatever it is these days".
Layoffs, VC defunding, poop on the streets and city-corona troubles.<p>Yes, I can totally understand a strong outflow. (But in a little while it might be time to buy in. I believe someday SF will again be a desirable place to live.)
The headline is very misleading. The author says that web searches by people thinking of moving out of San Francisco are up.<p>That's very different than actually leaving.
Sure, I've thought about leaving myself, but where else can you just take a dump on a sidewalk whenever you feel like it? Or where else can you take anything you want without legal repercussions, as long as it's worth less than $950 misdemeanor limit?<p>San Francisco is a paradise!
Another reason not mentioned: An increase in Crime in the City, here's just a few<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-is-proposing-reimbursing-car-break-in-victims-2020-2" rel="nofollow">https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-is-proposing-r...</a><p><a href="https://www.ebar.com/news/crime//291784" rel="nofollow">https://www.ebar.com/news/crime//291784</a><p><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/video-man-defecates-in-aisle-of-san-francisco-grocery-store" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/video-man-defecates-...</a>