Resident poll shows mixed feelings on living in Bay Area

Bay Area residents overwhelmingly think their lives are headed in the right direction, even as they see the region moving down the wrong track.

That’s one of the key takeaways from the annual Silicon Valley Poll, released last week by local think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley, with 81% of the 1,800 adults surveyed in mid-August saying their lives are good and 60% saying the Bay Area is heading downward.

“I don’t think it’s a contradiction,” Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Venture, told San José Spotlight. “People are actually glad to be here for the economic opportunity, the warm weather and all the other good things. But at the same time, they’re frustrated by the high cost of housing, because we’re not addressing a basic human need. We’re not providing shelter.”

Almost half — 46% — of surveyed residents in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties said they are likely to move away from the region in the next few years, which Hancock attributes to housing costs rather than other dissatisfactions such as traffic and homelessness.

“I keep telling people the answer to every question is housing,” Hancock said.

The high cost of living is also severely straining low-income families.

Among families with children at home and household incomes below $150,000, 83% of respondents said they have cut back on groceries or other necessities to make ends meet, while only 35% still think hard work can lead to a better life.

A majority — 56% — of residents under age 50 said they are unlikely to have children in future, with 58% citing affordability as the top reason.

“We’ve got the lowest birth rates on record right now for the United States and for California,” Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of California in San Francisco, said during an Oct. 7 briefing on the poll results at Santa Clara University. “This is happening throughout the world.”

One big reason for the Bay Area baby bust, according to Johnson, is that people wanting to start a family are moving outside the region in search of affordable housing.

Hancock said Silicon Valley’s success is causing an ever-expanding gap between rich and poor, with the region’s top 10% of households owning 75% of collective wealth and the bottom 50% owning less than 1%.

The data could explain why 79% of surveyed residents agreed with the statement, “The Bay Area is becoming a place where only the wealthy can thrive.”

This in turn could explain why Proposition 40, known as the  “billionaire tax,” is on the Nov. 3 ballot, sponsored by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West. The measure is a one-time, 5% tax to be imposed on roughly 200 state residents whose net worth exceeded $1 billion at the start of this year.

“People are in a punitive mood,” Hancock said. “That’s how we should understand Silicon Valley right now.”

Artificial intelligence, the newest technology emerging from Silicon Valley, is also stirring deep concern, with 86% of poll respondents viewing AI as advancing faster than effective government regulation, 84% worried about the impact on privacy and civil liberties and 84% expecting fewer career opportunities for young people.

These concerns are spilling over into the recent nationwide and local objections to the construction of more data centers.

“I think (data centers) are a symbol of things being thrust into your life that you didn’t ask for, that you have no control over and that you don’t have enough information about,” Irina Raicu, director of the internet ethics program at Santa Clara University, said at the poll briefing.

Despite all its problems, the survey found hope for the future.

Overall, 51% of respondents said the Bay Area’s best days are still ahead. Young people and newcomers are more optimistic, with 66% of Gen Zers ages 14 to 29 expecting a brighter tomorrow and new arrivals. For those living in the area for less than 10 years, it was 62%.

Contact Mike Langberg at [email protected].