Poll: Local Residents Still Love Living In The Bay Area; Housing Cost May Force Them To Leave
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- While a majority of local residents told pollsters they love living in the Bay Area, they also voiced rising concerns about the escalating cost of housing and their future in Northern California.
The Bay Area Council Poll annually explores the reasons residents call the Bay Area home and also the concerns about current economic trends that may force them to leave.
The latest poll findings were released on Tuesday.
In the 2014 poll, 57 percent of the residents asked said they believed the Bay Area was on the right track, but the 2019 version of the poll found that had flipped 180 degrees with 57 percent of the respondents now saying they felt conditions in the Bay Area were on the wrong track.
Among the leading concerns were housing costs (43 percent of the respondents listed it a major challenge), traffic and congestion (21 percent), homelessness (20 percent) and cost of living (10 percent).
The rainy winter and spring have driven down drought fears from 28 percent in 2015 to 0 percent in 2019.
According to the poll, 57% of residents say there's no other place on the planet they'd rather live. Ties to family and employment were cited among the top reasons that residents call the Bay Area home, with the region's temperate weather figuring prominently and the fact that many were born or have deep roots here.
"You can count me at the top of the 57 percent," said Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council. "Sometimes our challenges can appear to outweigh the incredible wonders and advantages of this place we call home.
Still, residents see much about the Bay Area to love, particularly its strong economy and the foundations for the region's economic success. Among the high level findings, the poll found:
- 74 percent said the Bay Area is a good place to live
- 90 percent said the Bay Area is important to the national economy
- 89 percent said the region is a center of innovation
- 82 percent said the Bay Area offers good job opportunities
- 87 percent said the region provides unique cultural experiences
The 2019 Bay Area Council Poll, which was conducted online by Oakland-based public opinion research firm EMC Research from March 6-18, surveyed 1,000 registered voters from around the nine-county Bay Area.
