San Francisco Becomes Fastest-Shrinking U.S. City

Yahoo News/Reuters ^ | Thu Jul 10, 5:00 PM ET | Andrea Orr

[hattend]

San Francisco Becomes Fastest-Shrinking U.S. City Thu Jul 10, 5:00 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Andrea Orr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - I left my forwarding address in San Francisco.

The foggy city by the bay, which has lost jobs and income in the technology industry bust, saw the largest population decline of any major city in the United States last year, according to U.S. Census data.

San Francisco's population declined by 1.5 percent or nearly 12,000 between July 2001 and July 2002, making it the biggest loser among 242 U.S. cities with more than 100,000 people, a report released on Thursday showed.

San Francisco, with a population of about 776,000 in mid-2002, joins some other famously depressed U.S. cities, including Flint, Michigan, which ranked 240 on the list with a population decline of 1.4 percent or 1,687 people, and Gary, Indiana, which came in at 227, losing 0.8 percent of its population, or 793 people. San Francisco lost 11,929 residents over the same one-year period.

But the exodus from the San Francisco Bay Area appears more pronounced considering all the other surrounding cities that also suffered big population declines.

Second to last on the list was Sunnyvale, California, a Silicon Valley city about 50 miles south of San Francisco, and the home to number of high-tech companies and high-tech workers, who were hit hard by the dot-com bust. Sunnyvale's population declined by 1.4 percent, or 1,830 people, the report showed.

DOT-COM ADIEU

San Jose, California, also a key Silicon Valley city, ranked near the bottom of the list, at 220, as did Daly City, just outside of San Francisco, which ranked 236. San Jose lost 5,740 people or 0.6 percent of its people and Daly City 1,089 people or 1.1 percent.

Hundreds of high-tech start-up companies based in northern California have closed their doors during the past three years, sending many people out of town in search of work.

California's Employment Development Department said San Francisco had a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.6 percent in May, compared with a national rate of 6.1 percent. The jobless rate in Santa Clara County, encompassing Sunnyvale and much of Silicon Valley, was 8 percent.

This recent exodus marks a stark reversal of trends seen in the late 1990s when engineers and recent college and business school graduates thronged to the Silicon Valley region seeking work at high-tech companies that offered generous compensation and stock option packages.

Although San Francisco has not ranked among the fastest growing cities at any time in recent history, it did show healthy expansion throughout the 1990s, with its population growing 7.3 percent over the course of that decade, census data show.

Most of the fastest growth in the United States meanwhile, is occurring in southern California and throughout the Southwest. The Census report ranked Gilbert, Arizona, with a 10.3 percent population increase last year alone, as the fastest growing city in the U.S.

North Las Vegas, Nevada came in second with Rancho Cucamonga near Los Angeles; Henderson, Nevada; and Joliet, Illinois rounding out the top five.

[cherry_bomb88]

Well, the water is pretty cold in that bay.

[Drango]

Attention all SF Members

FREEP SATURDAY NIGHT!!!

SF *Freeping the French ~ Bastille Day* info here link

[cherry_bomb88]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, he said ne was a giants & niners fan!!! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....so, how 'bout what my Angels did to your Giants last year????

[nothingnew]

Tiny Tom is "deeply saddened and very concerned..."

FMCDH

[bedolido]

I've always loved SF, but you're right, it's just not the same anymore.

I think SF is one of the prettiest cities in the US. In the 60's (baby-boomer here) I travelled several times to Frisco to see the Dead, etc. Always stayed in the Haight area.

SF is not the anus of California. Excreting perverity as its rendering.

[bedolido]

SF is not=SF is now

[VOA]

San Francisco Becomes Fastest-Shrinking U.S. City

As a relocated Okie, here's my assessment:

Los Angeles/Southern California: Dallas/Ft. Worth with a beach and more Asians.
Overall, a nice place to visit, not so nice to live since Gray Davis happened.

San Francisco: The home of the homeless, gay, lesbian and trans-gendered By The Bay.

[qam1]

The big questions are where are these people moving to and when they get there will they turn it into a liberal-socialist hell hole like San Francisco

[ZGuy]

That was really a fun series. Since the Angels are AL, I was rooting for them throughout the playoffs. The Giants were soooooo close, but out of all the other MLB teams, I'm happy the halos won it.

I grew up near the town of Jim Robinson and all we had was the SF teams on the radio, so after them being the only team to follow for many many years, they become your team. I've tried rooting for other teams over the years, but as they say -- there's always something special about that first girlfriend.

[hattend]

The percentages listed in the article indicate YEARLY increases/decreases (for the most part, some census data is at the end).

Your census increase is over a 10 year period, so your 21% is only about 2.1% a year.

[Kuksool]

{North Las Vegas, Nevada came in second with Rancho Cucamonga near Los Angeles; Henderson, Nevada; and Joliet, Illinois rounding out the top five.}

Illegal immigration at work.

[ZGuy]

And if the first girlfriend is from SF, the "something special" may be that she's not female!

[GaltMeister]

San Francisco's population declined by 1.5 percent

Sounds like rats jumping off a sinking ship.

[princess leah]

Who wants to live in a pro-gay community if you're straight? That's really what SF has become!

[Jay D. Dyson]

But the exodus from the San Francisco Bay Area appears more pronounced considering all the other surrounding cities that also suffered big population declines.

Why is this news? Even rats know when it's time to flee a doomed ship...

-Jay

[Welsh Rabbit]

You have managed to trash one of America's most beautiful cities!!

It's unfortunate, lefties seem to have a knack for invading and destroying the country's most desirable real estate.

[hattend]

Pro-gay, pro-bum, pro-riot, heavily Democrat.

I went to SF a few times as a kid and loved it...I now totally bypass the entire Bay Area now unless my sister has free Giants tix. :-) The new ballpark is actually very nice. You don't freeze in summer like you used to do at Candlestick.

[The Human G-Nome]

and the city is "trashed" how exactly?

[The Human G-Nome]

I hate what they have done to SF. It was one of my favorite cities.
>>>>

again, what are you talking about? what have "they" done?

[JoeSixPack1]

see, I knew I was wrong. :-)

Thanks for the correction.