Bay Area's Population Problem: More Out Than In

Aaron Glantz compiled the findings from data supplied by the U.S. Census Bureau. Bar graphs of in and out migration are shown for each of the 9 counties composing the San Francisco Bay region. Only San Francisco had more people moving out of the county than into it.

"Approximately 400,000 local residents move [sic] out of the Bay Area every year between 2005 and 2009, while just 345,000 people moved here from other parts of the country - a loss of about 55,000 residents annually. But about 71,000 people moved to the Bay Area from other nations during each of those years, contributing to the region's population growth."

Santa Clara county, home to Silicon Valley, saw the most pronounced population shift "where 24,000 new immigrants arrived as 83,000 residents left."

"Professor James Lai, who heads the ethnic studies department at Santa Clara University, blamed the gap on high-tech companies that, he said, preferred to hire immigrants on temporary work visas "because they are cheaper."

"Many of the people who left the Bay Area headed to the Central Valley, where the cost of living is lower, or to warmer, more sprawling cities, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix, the data show."

Thanks to The Bay Citizen