It should be unsurprising that California was home to one of the worst pandemic recoveries for a major metropolitan area. It is even less surprising that the area is San Francisco.
Among the 25 largest metro areas in the country, San Francisco ranked 24th, ahead of just Baltimore, Maryland. San Francisco ranked last in economic activity, according to the Regional Economic Recovery Index, with tax revenue falling by $96 million between 2019 and 2021.
SAN FRANCISCO'S $5 MILLION PER PERSON REPARATION PLAN HAD NO CALCULATIONS BEHIND IT
Tax revenue cratered in San Francisco because people no longer needed to live there. Nearly 46% of workers in San Francisco self-reported that they work from home. When you combine that with the city being one of the most expensive to live in, the homelessness and drug addiction issues that make it difficult to walk down the street, and the fact that San Francisco tops the list of cities that homeowners want to leave, and you end up with a lot of people leaving for greener pastures.
San Francisco has made some progress, refocusing on crime and quality of life issues while tossing aside uber-progressive politicians and performative boycotts. But the damage that has been done will take years to reverse. Much like California itself, San Francisco thrived because enough people thought that its benefits (in terms of livability, job opportunities, and climate) outweighed the costs.
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The pandemic popped that bubble. With the rise in remote work and the unruliness that followed pandemic lockdowns, it will be difficult to return to form without committing to serious changes.
If San Francisco hasn’t bottomed out yet, it will soon. It is a shame that one of America’s most iconic cities would need to reach that point to realize that things must change, but it would be even worse if the city were to lock itself back into its cycle of progressive decay. Hopefully, city leaders and city residents are ready to chart a new path that doesn’t put the city on the same level as Baltimore.