By Caitlin Yoder and Mercer Stauch
A new poll from Joint Venture Silicon Valley, conducted in collaboration with the Mercury News and the Bay Area News Group, reports that more than half of Bay Area residents are seriously considering leaving the region in the near future. The poll, which surveyed 1,773 residents across the Bay Area, revealed that Washington is a prominent destination for these prospective movers. This “exodus,” as the Tacoma News Tribune described it, is due to a variety of social, economic, and political reasons. The most cited reason for planning to move is high/increasing housing costs. Of the surveyed residents who said they were likely to move, 67% placed this as one of their top three reasons. Below that were quality of life (49%), taxes (37%), political environment (28%) and homelessness (28%).
The University of Puget Sound is home to a strong contingent of former Bay Area residents who traveled north for college. The Trail spoke to a few of them about their reaction to this poll, and about their personal decisions to come to Tacoma.
No one expressed surprise at the results of the survey. “There is simply not enough room to continue housing all the people who want to live in the Bay Area, and our municipal governments are full of self-interested political opportunists with no vision for the future of urban design,” said Canaan Pakter (‘26). For that reason, Pakter said, Washington is an appealing alternative due to its investments in walkability, more affordable housing, and public transportation. Devon Ashburn (‘25) echoed the sentiment. “My mom is a real estate agent based in Berkeley and Oakland and she can’t even afford to buy a house herself, she has to rent a place in Pleasant Hill. If it weren’t for all her family being in the Bay, she would probably move away as well,” she said.
They both commented, however, that being able to move out of state for college is a privilege that many can’t access. They also noted that Seattle and Tacoma offer green space and urban proximity that mirrors attractive aspects of the Bay Area. “I decided to come to Washington for school because it’s still on the West Coast but actually has seasons and is green! Also, being near a big city like Seattle feels familiar to me since I am used to having San Francisco so close,” Ashburn said. She also mentioned access to natural beauty and the ocean as drivers of her decision to move north. “People from the Bay are often very outdoorsy, and the PNW offers that,” Pakter added.
Still, both interviewees said they eventually want to return to California. “The cultural and intellectual diversity of the Bay is not something I’ve experienced anywhere else,” Pakter said. “And it’s the community I’ve built.”
The arrival of out-of-state residents, including those from the Bay Area, intersects with our city’s history of redlining and gentrification. Hilltop, a neighborhood less than 10 minutes from campus by car, is undergoing significant demographic shifts as rising housing costs and discriminatory zoning practices have forced many longtime residents — primarily people of color — to leave. Out-of-state arrivals have historically contributed to this dynamic, and the Mercury News poll suggests that this trend could intensify in the coming years.