Nearly half of Bay Area residents considered leaving in the next few years due to rising cost of homes: report

The latest report comes after a downward trend of residents expressing that they considered leaving.

Oakland homeless woman steals city council candidate's fundraising money at campaign launch event

A disturbed homeless woman stole a bag with $1,000 worth of donations from an Oakland city council candidate during a campaign kickoff event and police they never showed up when called. (Credit: Charlene Wang)

A new report shows that nearly half of Bay Area residents considered leaving in the next few years due to the rising cost of living and homes.

A new poll by the Bay Area News Group and Joint Venture Silicon Valley shows 47% of Bay Area residents surveyed said they want to move out of the city in the next few years.

The latest report comes from a trend of residents expressing that they considered leaving.

The findings from the survey are a decline from last year when 52% of respondents said they were likely to move away. In 2022, 56% said they were likely to leave.

comet crossing over Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

A new report shows that nearly half of Bay Area residents considered leaving in the next few years due to the rising cost of living and homes. (Storyful)

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Furthermore, the survey showed 80% of residents cite housing prices as an issue and 79% share concern about the homelessness issue.

Per a press release from Joint Center Silicon Valley, "Housing (82 percent of respondents), homelessness (79 percent) and the high cost of living (78 percent) are ranked as ‘very serious’ problems facing the Bay Area."

Although residents’ view on the Bay Area has improved since last year, "a substantial majority (70 percent) say the region’s quality of life has grown progressively worse over the past five years."

Homeless encampment

Oakland Homeless encampment (Getty Images)

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Joint Venture Silicon Valley in partnership with Bay Area News Group surveyed 1,773 adults across five counties in the Bay Area.

Fox News Digital previously reported on former residents having found better quality and cost of living outside the Bay Area, where homelessness and housing prices have skyrocketed.

One family who left the Bay Area to live in Idaho said that homelessness had become a problem.

nearly half of bay area residents considered leaving in the next few years due to rising cost of homes report

(Fox News Digital previously reported on former residents having found better quality and cost of living outside the Bay Area, where homelessness and housing prices have skyrocketed.)

"The homeless situation in downtown Martinez was just getting out of hand," Ken Freeze told the East Bay Times. "Beautiful Marina Park was just littered with needles. People didn't want to take their families down there," he added.

In 2005, Freeze and his wife bought several acres of land in Placerville, California, with plans to retire. 

Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.

Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders Program. 

Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Joshua can be followed on Twitter and LinkedIn

Authored by Joshua Nelson via FoxNews October 15th 2024