San Francisco residents are so fed up with the paralyzingly high rent and the horrendous traffic conditions that approximately 34 percent of them reportedly want to exit.
According to a new survey conducted by the Bay Area Council, the 34 percent of Bay Area residents who are considering leaving are individuals who have lived there for five or fewer years. Along with that potential exit comes the loss of the region’s middle class.
“These younger folks, millennials, are our future workforce; this is our labor market; this is our talent pool,” Rufus Jeffris, vice president of communications for the Bay Area Council, told CNBC News. “So, our economy is fueled by our talent and when folks are saying that they are going to leave, that can create a real problem for us in terms of attracting and retaining the workers and talent that we need to succeed.”
The survey reportedly collected results from approximately 1,000 residents in the area.
According to Rent Jungle, as of February 2016, average apartment rent within 10 miles of San Francisco clocks in at a staggering $3,770, with a one-bedroom apartment going for around $3,096. The same real estate site notes that as of last month, rents within 10 miles of Manhattan, New York average $3,519 with a one-bedroom unit going for $3,152 on average per month.
Many of San Francisco’s otherwise less desirable neighborhoods have also become subjected to gentrification, which has pushed out lower earners and replaced them with top-earning executives, many of them working in the tech and finance sectors. The lack of available housing has also contributed to this phenomenon.
In addition to millennials and the younger generations, San Francisco’s black population is also on the verge of disappearing from the space-starved region.
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz
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