San Francisco’s exodus of rich residents during the COVID-19 pandemic led to biggest drop in household income of any US city, new census data has revealed, as office workers continue to flee the city amid a recent rise in crime and homelessness.
The data, compiled by the US Census Bureau, looked at the median income of the nation’s top 25 most populous metropolises from 2019 to 2021.
The Bay Area, long been known as the home of Big Tech – as well as the wealth the industry has created – saw the biggest drop in citizens’ earnings.
Median household income for the area fell from $121,551 in 2019 to $116,005 in 2021, the data shows – a reduction of 4.6 percent.
Fellow office hub New York City – which has also struggled with post-pandemic lawlessness – followed close behind, with a drop of 4.2 percent. Residents don’t make nearly as much as their counterparts out West, however, with the average earnings from falling $88,130 to $84,409.
Both, however, as well as several other Democrat-run cities to top the list – such as San Diego and Baltimore – saw a major spike in homelessness throughout the pandemic, compounding the already widespread evacuation.
San Francisco’s exodus of rich residents during the COVID-19 pandemic led to biggest drop in household income of any US city, new census data has revealed, as office workers continue to flee the city amid a recent rise in crime and homelessness
The Bay Area, long been known as the home of Big Tech but has since become a hive of lawlessness and debauchery, saw the biggest drop
The statistic illustrates San Francisco in particular’s failure to recover following the spread of the virus, with homeless encampments and open-air drug markets since sprouting up and now becoming commonplace
The data, compiled by the US Census Bureau, looked at the median income of the nation’s top 25 most populous metropolises from 2019 to 2021. The data also serves as fresh evidence of Democratic-run cities’ loss of high-income earners
The statistic illustrates San Francisco in particular’s failure to recover following the spread of the virus, with homeless encampments and open-air drug markets since sprouting up and becoming commonplace.
The data also serves as fresh evidence of the city’s loss of its hallowed high-income earners – with over 72,000 moving out of Silicon Valley Between January 2020 and September 2021, according to University of California Consumer Credit Panel data.
That figure, which has likely swelled in the year since, is almost eight times higher than from the same span between 2018 to 2019.
Woke Mayor London Breed’s office, meanwhile, recently estimated that as much as one-third of San Francisco’s workforce now lives outside of the city as a result of the advent of remote work – as an increasing amount of citizens elect to work from home instead of braving the seedy San Franciscan streets.
Residents have instead flocked to less costly, conservative-run locales, such as Austin – noticeably absent from the list – or even suburbs outside their city limits, all to escape the crime and homeless camps that now prevail post-pandemic streets.
Crime is up 8.5 percent in San Francisco compared to this time last year, following two years of record crime rates during the height of the pandemic.
The mayor’s office recently estimated that as much as one-third of San Francisco’s workforce now lives outside of the city as a result of the advent of remote work – as an increasing amount of citizens elect to work from home instead of braving the seedy San Franciscan streets
Residents have instead flocked to less costly, conservative-run locales, such as Austin – noticeably absent from the list – or even suburbs outside their city limits, all to escape the crime and homeless camps that now prevail post-pandemic streets.
Crime is up almost all across the board in San Francisco compared to this time last year, following two years of record crime rates during the height of the pandemic
Assaults and rapes are both up by a marked 11 and 10.7 percent percent, respectively, and robberies up a similar 5 percent.
All are well over totals seen in the previous decade, prior to the pandemic and the implementation of several soft-on-crime policies by city officials that have allowed criminals to offend repeatedly and stay on the streets.
Larceny theft, meanwhile, has rocketed a concerning 16.6 percent, with 25,712 reported incidents so far this year.
While the statistics are somewhat less severe than other Democrat-run cities like New York – currently up 35 percent – and Chicago, which is up 37 percent, homicide is the only crime to see a decrease from last year in the northern California city, which serves as home to tech giants such as Twitter and Google as well as countless lucrative startups.
The city’s failure to quell crime has further hampered the situation, with both Breed and new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins – who replaced the recalled Chesa Boudin – have vowed to crack down on soaring crime and increasingly prevalent open-air drug markets
Videos released on social media show just how the city has fallen – with children forced to navigate their way through filthy, open-air drug markets, rife with homeless addicts, many of whom brazenly inject drugs on the streets
The City’s Castro Merchants Association, meanwhile, which represents roughly 125 businesses, sent a letter to the city government in August, threatening to withhold tax payments if the city doesn’t get the homelessness issue under control
Both cities made the list of the cities to see their median incomes diminish in the years since the outset of the pandemic.
The San Fransciscan crime epidemic has gotten so out of hand, that its seen the city’s former progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin nixed for his policies.
The City’s Castro Merchants Association, meanwhile, which represents roughly 125 businesses, sent a letter to the city government in August, threatening to withhold tax payments if the city doesn’t get the homelessness issue under control.
Other metros to top the list included other Democratic-run locales such as Portland and Washington, DC, which have both been grappling with a similar surge in homelessness and violence.
Other metros to top the list included other Democratic-run locales such as Portland and Washington, DC, which have both been grappling with a similar surge in homelessness and violence
The findings illustrate the magnitude of the loss thousands of rich young professionals from Democrat-run state for low-tax havens like Texas, Arizona, and Florida.
Tampa and Phoenix, for instance, both saw their average earnings bolstered, with residents of the Phoenix metro area seeing a 5.2 percent – or $3,777 gain – in median household income and Tampa seeing a 2.6% jump
The city, however, had the dubious distinction of lowest income among major regions.
It comes as crime continues to surge, office workers continue to feel increasingly unsafe, electing to work from the safety of their home instead of venturing outside for a conventional commute.
That recent gravitation toward remote work – coupled with mass firings – while saving money for big tech, has left small businesses in the region struggling, as they rely on the presence of the now-absent workers to turn a profit.
San Francisco’s small businesses are closing down in waves as tech workers remain slow to return to the office – as employees fear traveling outside due to the city’s current crime and homeless-ridden state
The mass exodus of white-collar workers has subsequently hampered the livelihood’s of the city’s working class, whose businesses have suffered as a result of the reduced foot traffic
Deepening the struggle are recent hiring freezes implemented as of late by some of the region’s biggest companies, such as Google – leading to even less foot traffic in the city’s now crime-ridden hubs.
Layoffs in the Valley are also rife, with Bay Area companies like Meta and Tesla recently firing thousands of staff to raise their bottom lines.
Other tech companies, including the Elon Musk-led Tesla, have moved out of California for tax-friendly states such as Texas and Florida. Others still have closed their offices altogether to fully embrace the recent advent of remote work, or have at least downsized in preparation for a hybrid future.
The mass exodus of white-collar workers has subsequently hampered the livelihood’s of the city’s working class, whose businesses have suffered as a result of the reduced foot traffic.
One such business is Marshall Luck’s chiropractic and massage practice in the city’s downtown area, Rincon Chiro, which has been hit particularly hard by dwindling foot-traffic.
‘Most of our patient population is the larger businesses,’ Luck told CNBC in an interview. ‘As they return, it’s going to help us stay stable. That’s what we’re kind of hanging on for – that recovery.’
Other businesses – particularly restaurants, retail outlets, and places of healthcare – have also suffered in the city, whose desolateness has prevailed long after lockdown orders were rescinded in late 2020
The city’s recovery has lagged in recent months, as the streets remain as unsafe as they were during the pandemic
Other businesses – particularly restaurants, retail outlets, and places of healthcare – have also suffered in the city, whose desolateness has prevailed long after lockdown orders were rescinded in late 2020.
Last year, that resulted in a $400 million hit to the city’s tax revenue, further hindering the city’s return the office – which has been markedly slower than other cities.
‘We’re slower than New York, we’re slower than Chicago, and it does have to relate to being so heavily dependent on tech,’ said Cushman and Wakefield’s Bay Area Regional Director Robert Sammons, told CNBC.
Search giant Google was one of several San Francisco based companies that said it would pause hiring this year – leading many to wonder just how bad the situation really is
Social media platform Twitter paused hiring in May
As of September, just over three-quarters of the real estate giant’s San Francisco employees have returned to the office, a trend that is widespread across the region as CEOs look to cut costs amid talks of a looming recession.
Another solution execs have turned to are hiring freezes – with both Twitter and Telsa hitting the pause button on new acquisitions this summer.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong this summer said he is planning for the worst because if a recession sets in, a ‘crypto winter’ is coming after laying off 18% of its nearly 4,000 employees in June, with roughly 700 staffers nixed.
Armstrong wrote in an internal memo to staffers at the time, ‘I am making the difficult decision to reduce the size of our team by about 18 percent, to ensure we stay healthy during this economic downturn.’
San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin was ousted from his position in June, after critics accused him of not doing enough to keep residents and business owners safe amid a crime wave
More recently, search giant Google said it too would pause hiring earlier this week – leading many to wonder just how bad the situation really is.
Musk’s Tesla similalry cut 3.5% of its 100,000 workforce – a reduction of roughly 3,500. The company’s main factory is based in Freemont, which is part of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Meta, meanwhile, has plans to slash hiring of engineers this year by at least 30%.
Competing social media platform Twitter paused hiring in May.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told staffers at the time that the company had been struggling and failing to meet goals for audience building and revenue, Bloomberg reported.
The company implemented a work-from-home-forever policy during the pandemic.
It officially reopened its offices March 15, with remote work remaining an option for staffers. Since then, turnout at the social media giant has been understandably sparse.
The city’s failure to quell crime has further hampered the situation, with both Breed and new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins – who replaced the recalled Chesa Boudin – have vowed to crack down on soaring crime and increasingly prevalent open-air drug markets.
Homeless encampments have become commonplace across the city, spurring many, especially tech workers, to move elsewhere and work remotely
The city’s failure to quell crime has further hampered the situation, with both Breed and new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins – who replaced the recalled Chesa Boudin – have vowed to crack down on soaring crime and increasingly prevalent open-air drug markets
Videos released on social media show just how the city has fallen – with children forced to navigate their way through filthy, open-air drug markets, rife with homeless addicts, many of whom brazenly inject drugs on the streets.
Meanwhile, the mass exodus of citizens deterred by rising mortgage rates, crime, and warnings of a looming recession has caused property prices along West Coast metropolitan areas to dip, due to a glut of properties on the market,
Contributing to the rapid cooldown is the country’s surging mortgage rates – which rose above a record 6 percent this summer.
Consequently, in addition to the widespread migration, the markedly less people are moving to the city amid its current state.
Since the start of the pandemic, move-ins to San Francisco are down by a marked 24 percent. The Bay Area has also failed to replace its displaced teach workers who left between March and October 2020, city data shows, restoring just 96 tech workers for every 100 tech workers that fled.
In a report by the California Policy Lab that tracks Californians’ credit history, research fellow Natalie Holmes labeled the phenomenon ‘a unique and dramatic exodus.’
The city, meanwhile, relies on a robust office space market for revenue – and as a result, will likely continue to languish until their workforce returns in full.
The likelihood of such a return, as officials frantically strive to address the root of the rise in crime and homelessness, remains to be seen.
Well-paid millennials left New York and California in the THOUSANDS early on in the pandemic, many for lower-tax living in Florida and Texas
New York and California lost tens of thousands of wealthy millennials in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, as lower-tax states like Florida and Texas saw an influx of rich young professionals, a study of tax returns reveals.
An analysis of Census Bureau and Harvard University data reveals that 15,788 more wealthy young professionals left New York than relocated there between 2019 and 2020, while California recorded a net outflow of 7,960.
Many appear to have opted for sunnier southern climes like Texas and Florida as the pandemic ravaged dense cities, forcing businesses and offices closed as millions switched to remote working on their laptops.
Texas recorded a net inflow of roughly 3,800 wealthy millennials — those aged under 35 and earning more than $100,000 per year — while Florida saw their numbers rise by 3,400.
Stephanie Horan, a data analyst for fintech firm SmartAsset, said California and New York, destinations for generations of upwardly mobile college-leavers, were ‘struggling the most to keep rich young professionals’.
Isabelle Novak, 30, a communications manager, and her partner, software executive Reid Gridley, 29, were among the millennial-generation professionals who made a switch during the pandemic, buying their first property in Portland, Oregon
‘Combined, these two states lost more than 57,000 wealthy millennials in 2020, while gaining fewer than 34,000,’ Horan told DailyMail.com.
Texas and Florida, she added, were ‘winning big, ranking as the number one and two states, respectively, where rich young professionals are moving.’
After New York and California, the areas with the biggest drop in numbers of wealthy young professionals were Illinois, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, Louisiana, North Dakota, Virginia, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
Relative to its population size, Washington, D.C. saw the largest proportion of rich young professionals moving elsewhere, with a net outflow of nearly 2,100.
The two top destination states — Texas and Florida — are both notable for having no income tax.
A furniture delivery to Prosper, Texas. The state recorded a net inflow of some 3,800 people aged under 35 and earning more than $100,000 per year in 2020
Other states with significant inflows of moneyed young adults were Washington state, Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, Arizona, Connecticut, Tennessee, and Oregon.
The analysis of tax returns echoes other research into migration patterns in the early pandemic, when some took advantage of remote work and ditched big cities for sunnier, more rural climes with lower taxes.
Even so, some researchers say the often-touted ‘Great Migration’ was overblown, and that overall movement patterns were low, as people postponed life-cycle events such as marriages or having babies that often lead to moves.
For many, the mass movement of Americans at the start of the pandemic was exaggerated. Eight-in-ten young adults live less than 100 miles from where they grew up; and only 10 percent had moved more than 500 miles away.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the nation’s mover rate has declined steadily for decades — and the pandemic did not change that. In 2021, 8.4 percent of people had changed addresses in the previous year, compared to 9.3 percent in 2020.
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Source: | This article originally belongs to Daily Mail
