Silicon Valley Continues To Lose People As Costs Rise

Silicon Valley is a famously expensive place to live. The combination of economic opportunity, celebrity, a beautiful landscape and great weather is hard to beat.

But the looming question is whether those rising costs make it so difficult for companies to attract the talent they need (and operate profitably) that they will ultimately have to relocate many of their operations in order to compete globally.  JL


Abrar Al-Heeti reports in CNET:

For the third year in a row, more people are leaving the area than are coming in. Silicon Valley is seeing employment growth and record megadeals, but they're coming alongside rising costs, especially housing and income inequality. There have been 821,000 new jobs created in the Bay Area since the recession, but only 173,000 new housing units. The median home price is more than $1 million, making it the highest in the nation. As 13% of households hold 75% of the region's wealth, 30% of residents aren't meeting self-sufficiency standards as the cost of goods and services has gone up.

Silicon Valley is seeing employment growth and a record number of megadeals, but they're coming alongside rising costs -- especially when it comes to housing and income inequality, according to a report by the Joint Venture Silicon Valley. For the third year in a row, more people are leaving the area than are coming in, the 2020 Silicon Valley Index says. 

"The granularity of migration data in this year's Index is eye opening -- we're essentially turning over our population by nearly 5% every year, with the influx of foreign immigrants increasing our region's diversity and tech talent base," Rachel Massaro, Joint Venture vice president and director of research for the nonprofit institute, said in a release. 

There have been 821,000 new jobs created in the Bay Area since the recession, but only 173,000 new housing units, said Russell Hancock, Joint Venture CEO and president of the institute Russell Hancock. This lends itself to skyrocketing home prices and "creaking infrastructure," he said in the release.

The median home price is more than $1 million, making it the highest in the nation. More than 11,000 people in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are homeless, according to the report, which the organization releases every February.  Additionally, 30% of residents aren't meeting self-sufficiency standards as the cost of goods and services has gone up by 2.7% in the last year. 

Income and wealth inequality are growing as costs rise, with wealth inequality hitting "a historic high as 13% of households hold more than 75% of the region's wealth," according to the report. While 13% of households have more than $1 million in net assets, 37% have less than $25,000 in savings. 

Still, the unemployment rate hit a 19-year low at 2.1%, and Silicon Valley added around 30,000 new jobs, outpacing state and national numbers. In 2019, regional gross domestic product went up by $17 billion. 

Venture capital also saw positive numbers, with $42 billion being invested in Silicon Valley and San Francisco companies, Joint Venture says. There were also a record 92 megadeals, and 22 local companies debuted on Wall Street.