San FranYuppyland?

23 June 2008 - 10:00am

San Francisco's rapid loss of low and middle-income residents is taking a toll on the city's social fabric.

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"It's urban flight flipped on its head: The number of low- and middle-income residents in San Francisco is shrinking as the wealthy population swells, a trend most experts attribute to the city's exorbitant housing costs.

Many worry it's increasingly turning San Francisco into an enclave of the rich, where nurses, firefighters, cops, teachers and other professionals aspiring toward homeownership or in need of cheaper rent can no longer afford to stay.

'A kind of derogatory term for the city would be Disneyland for yuppies,' said Hans Johnson, demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California. 'There is a legitimate public policy concern when a city that many people have lived in for many years and regard as their homes becomes so expensive they can't afford to live there anymore.'"

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle, June 22, 2008

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compared to what?

"High housing prices are also a key reason that among 2,227 sworn police officers in San Francisco, only 675 live in the city, a little more than 30 percent, said Gary Delagnes, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association."

How does that 30% compare with other cities? I'm guessing it is a lot higher than cities like Detroit which are more affordable but less desirable.