Over Half of Bay Area Residents Consider Leaving over Housing Prices

A new poll released by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) found that 51 percent of Bay Area residents have considered moving out of the region over skyrocketing housing prices.

“These are very dramatic findings,” Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll said, told SiliconValley.com. “In every region of California, the rising cost of housing has crept into the consciousness of voters.”

That same poll found that 56 percent of Golden State residents have considered relocating overall, and 59 percent of Los Angeles County residents have also considered exiting the region for states where their green goes further.

Several couples told Silicon Valley that they see Texas and Virginia as attractive alternatives. One couple reportedly said their mortgage in Texas is $500 a month for a house they would own, compared with $1,500 a month to rent a home in San Jose that they would be sharing with others.

Another reportedly said they are paying under $1,500 a month for a 1,500-square-foot house with an large backyard, compared with $2,500 for a two-bedroom apartment in Silicon Valley.

In April, Breitbart News reported on a poll released by the Bay Area Council which found: “Traffic congestion and skyrocketing housing prices have caused approximately 46 percent of the Bay Area’s millennial residents to start looking at potentially exiting the increasingly unlivable region.”

That figure was up by 12 percent from last year’s report from the Bay Area Council, which found that 34 percent of residents wanted to exit.

In addition to concern over housing prices, and roaring traffic, taxes may also be a factor. A recent CNBC survey shows that tax rates are the number one issue for voters.

California has the nation’s highest income tax at 13.3 percent, and a base sales tax of 7.25 percent.

In 2015, California was named the worst state to do business for the eleventh straight year.

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.`