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.

[Grando Calrissian]

You never know.

[Joe Hadenuf]

LOL, no you don't. But I am confident about you. Hehehe....

[Poohbah]

The problem is that it's hard to do a decent parody of San Francisco, as the place is a parody of liberalism.

[Joe Hadenuf]

It's full of Poo. But take away the Poo, and you have one of the most beautiful cities in the entire nation.......

[Grando Calrissian]

It's amusing how people get so worked up over a city they:

A - don't live in
B - will never live in
C - will never visit
D - have never been to

[Joe Hadenuf]

Oh, and I like the ones that do nothing but bad mouth everyone in Cal, and then turn around and beg them to leave Cal and come to their states. LOL!

[Grando Calrissian]

The best description I've heard is "Kindergarten Socialism". The City's in real trouble, though, once Brown leaves. I cringe at having to listen to Mayor Ammiano's voice the next four years.

[Poohbah]

It's nice. I think Colorado Springs has it beat. Beautiful setting AND full of conservatives.

[Poohbah]

Watch Ammiano resolve the issue of people leaving using the classic socialist solution--put up barbed wire, mines, and concrete walls.

[Grando Calrissian]

Different strokes. It's always been my opinion that California hasn't been screwed up by the natives but by the people that have moved here from elsewhere the last 15 years or so. Most of the people leaving SF are people who recently arrived anyway. Good news in my book. More parking, cheaper rent, less traffic, people are starting to smile at each other again.

[Grando Calrissian]

I believe he's already on record stating that he'll institute a City Income Tax at $125,000, which is close to the median household income. I am sure that if Ammiano becomes mayor, the City will become bankrupt within 2 years.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Colorado Springs is also loaded with illegal aliens.....And unfortunately, more on their way.....I have always loved SF, it's a very unique town, with a whole lot to do and see. Like everything else, to many and or the wrong kind of people can ruin it.

[PoisedWoman]

I was originally from Chicago suburbs, lived in SF for ten years and loved it. When I went back to Chicago after an absense of two decades, I found it horrible shape. Many more bums than SF, more buildings boarded up, a dreadful atmosphere pervades that once bustling city. I'd move back to SF tomorrow if I could afford it.

[Dan from Michigan]

If you are mentioned with Flint or Gary in a list of cities, it usually isn't good.

[July 4th]

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

One of these places is not like the others.

[MattAMiller]

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.

LA hasn't been a nice place to live for a long, long, long time.

[Joe Hadenuf]

LA hasn't been a nice place to live for a long, long, long time.

Actually LA has some very nice areas, with some of the best climate on earth to boot, as a matter of fact, there are probably more wealthy folks that live in and around LA than any other region of the country. I am talking private jet aircraft and elevators in their homes. Big bucks.

I could name at least 30 areas around the greater LA area that are outstanding beautiful, places. Unfortunately, you need big bucks to live in those areas......If these areas were not super nice, with weather to match, the super rich wouldn't be there.......Plain and simple......

[The Human G-Nome]

i stand corrected. you know SF. sorry for the confusion.

[BIGZ]

Fungus is bad.

[Drango]

you'd think the entire city were one big skid row

The funny thing is about 15% of SF voted Republican so they all are aren't twisted perverts. Notice that the Green candidate got more votes than the Pub! Here are the Gove results

GOVERNOR VOTE FOR 1

GRAY DAVIS (DEM) . . . . . . . . 143,102 65.78

PETER MIGUEL CAMEJO (GRN) . . . . . 33,495 15.40

BILL SIMON (REP) . . . . . . . . 33,214 15.27

GARY DAVID COPELAND (LIB) . . . . . 3,048 1.40

IRIS ADAM (NLW) . . . . . . . . 1,649 .76

REINHOLD GULKE (AMI). . . . . . . 1,639 .75

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1,414 .65