San Francisco Bay Area Brain Drain As Prices Skyrocket
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As housing prices continue to skyrocket, there is going to be a disincentive to living in the San Francisco Bay Area for intelligent people. A report is showing that people are spending 48 percent of their yearly income on housing to live in the Bay area. This is compared to Charlotte at 24 percent and Austin at 26 percent.
I love San Francisco, great city and great food (not sure of the politics, but that is for another day), but if you are going to have a miserable existance just to afford housing, it would make sense to live elsewhere and fly in occasionally to visit San Francisco.
The Bay Area’s high home prices are becoming a concern, and not just for buyers. The median priced house is over $729,000. That’s almost four times the national average.
The growing fear is that the Bay Area may suffer a brain drain as the brightest and best leave for other cities where home prices are affordable.
Sean Randolph, JD PhD, Bay Area economic forum: “I think we need to be very concerned about our ability here to continue to attract and retain the most talented people in the world in the future.” via abc7news.com:.
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It's not looking good; hopefully it will get better. Hang in there! 
Comment by fishfry on 21 May 2006:
Seems to me the logic is entirely backward.
As long as there are tech companies in the Bay area, the more high-tech workers that leave, the higher the salaries have to be to attract the few remaining workers. I’m a high tech worker in the Bay area. I like it here. I’m staying. I’d be thrilled if every other software engineer left. More work and more money for me.
Comment by Tom on 21 May 2006:
FishFry
As a business owner myself, at what stage does the pay rate necessary to attract talent cause the companies to leave the bay area? It has been a magnet because the jobs and talent came together at the right time. What if part of the equation falters, and the business owners say it is easier to run their businesses in Raleigh or Austin?
I am not throwing stones, but having followed and worked in the tech world, at a certain stage there has to be a breaking point and I would hate to see that happen to the Bay area.