{"id":484798,"date":"2026-10-04T12:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T12:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484798\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T12:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T12:28:12","slug":"bay-area-residents-feel-they-belong-but-may-leave-poll-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/484798\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Area residents feel they belong but may leave, poll finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Electrician David Collins describes living in California and the Bay Area like he\u2019s composing a love letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something about the magic in the air of this state, the land,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIf you go into the Sequoia National Forest, you smell that little spicy scent that doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else. From the phosphorescent algae in the middle of the night on the ocean, to the giant pumas all around here. It\u2019s all so close to Silicon Valley, it\u2019s just unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bay Area residents say their own lives are on track. The region is another story<\/a><\/p>\n

But Collins\u2019 ode to the place his family has called home for five generations comes with an unexpected ending: He is making plans to leave it.<\/p>\n

\"BANG\/SV\u201cI\u2019d love to stay. I worked seven days a week trying to save money to buy a house, and it just kept being unattainable,\u201d the 53-year-old said. \u201cHow am I going to retire?\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Collins, a Redwood City resident, people across the Bay Area are feeling the emotional turmoil between loving it here and leaving it.<\/p>\n

In the Silicon Valley Poll, conducted by Embold Research for Joint Venture Silicon Valley and the Bay Area News Group, 75% of the 1,801 adults surveyed said they feel they belong in their communities and 77% said people like them are welcomed and accepted. Yet nearly half said they are likely to move out of the Bay Area in the next few years. Even among those likely to leave, 66% said they still feel they belong.<\/p>\n

The share saying they are likely to leave declined from 56% in 2021 to 43% last year before ticking up to 46% this year. This is the first year pollsters asked about residents\u2019 sense of belonging.<\/p>\n

The findings reveal two different pressures pulling residents away from a place many still consider home: Some no longer see a financially sustainable future here, while others feel increasingly alienated from the region\u2019s politics and direction.<\/p>\n

Fifty-one percent of renters said they were likely to leave, compared with 39% of homeowners, as did 52% of residents unable to consistently cover expenses and save, compared with 41% of those who could.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Collins, 53, stands by his work truck at a house he is working on in Woodside, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. David, an electrician, is a 5th-generation Californian who is considering moving because of affordability. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they\u2019re concerned about is our inability to solve our basic problem, which is housing \u2014 housing and the high cost of living here,\u201d said Russell Hancock, president and CEO of regional think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s driving people out.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, there\u2019s a noticeable political split in this largely blue state \u2014 83% of Democrats feel they belong, compared with 69% of Republicans. Republicans are also much more likely to say they may leave in the next few years: 64%, compared with 36% of Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats feel very comfortable here and Republicans, of which there are more more than a few, are feeling less comfortable here,\u201d Hancock said. \u201cIt might be making them feel estranged, especially if it becomes too \u2014 I\u2019m using air quotes \u2014 too woke.\u201d<\/p>\n

In interviews with this news organization, Bay Area residents who took part in the poll \u2014 from a 59-year-old widow to a 26-year-old tech worker \u2014 explained the opposing forces tugging at their heartstrings and purse strings.<\/p>\n

Home economics not penciling out around the Bay Area<\/p>\n

Gina Bidinger lives in a $2,600-per-month, two-bedroom, one-bath apartment in Alameda with her youngest daughter, Karina, who is 24, and her 76-year-old mother, Irene. Recently laid off from her business manager job at an auto dealership, she is getting serious about moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little hard to make that decision to move out of California, because this is really all I\u2019ve ever known,\u201d said Bidinger, 59. \u201cThe only thing that really holds me back is my children that are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she can rattle off rents she reviewed across the country, where she can get twice as much for less than half the cost. In Virginia, where one of her six children just had a baby, she spotted a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment with a washer and dryer for $900 a month \u201cin a decent neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Las Vegas, where she and Karina have contemplated moving together, they looked up a house with a pool for $400,000. She even looked in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could get a mansion for $300,000, I mean, literally, like a six-bedroom, four-bath house for $300,000,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Even gas is half the price.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all so tempting. But for this Bay Area native who hosts every family birthday party, every Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year\u2019s, leaving would mean moving away from her seven grandchildren and her mother, who doesn\u2019t want to move and is on a waiting list for affordable senior housing.<\/p>\n

As a multiracial woman, Bidinger worries she might encounter overt racism in some of the less diverse, more conservative places she has considered moving \u2014 something she said she has not personally experienced in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been my biggest fear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But when she visited her daughter this summer in Virginia, she was pleasantly surprised by its diversity. \u201cIt\u2019s not as bad as I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deep blue state not blue enough to keep them<\/p>\n

Jervani \u201cXa\u2019miel\u201d Thompson has been on the move since childhood, from South Carolina to New Mexico, to college in Colorado and Texas, and on to jobs and grad school in Michigan, Florida and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s a little bit of melancholy in realizing and understanding that the place that you enjoy and almost feel like you\u2019ve always sought out is, I don\u2019t know, uninhabitable or unreachable in some way,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

Moving to Berkeley in 2023 to work in tech and teach math unearthed their nonbinary identity and \u201cexposed me to what was even possible in myself.\u201d Thompson joined the ballroom dancing and roller skating communities and the burgeoning hyperpop and underground disco scene and became a figure model for artists.<\/p>\n

Thompson found comfort in California\u2019s protections for trans youth and immigrants. But disillusionment crept in as the 26-year-old became politically active, protesting the use of Flock Safety automated license plate readers at Oakland City Council meetings and coming to terms with the failure of a ballot measure that would have banned forced prison labor and prohibited corrections officers from disciplining inmates for refusing such work assignments as cooking and cleaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be like progressive aesthetic or an onset of veneer,\u201d they said, \u201cbut a kind of rightward lurch is still manifesting in California. That was a little bit shocking to digest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Thompson couldn\u2019t afford to live here, and that was a practical reason for the move. But the main driver was a cascading disenchantment with politics, Thompson said, and \u201chow tech has almost strip-mined the life out the Bay Area.\u201d Earlier this year, Thompson moved to Washington, D.C., to work as a mathematician on satellite systems while pursuing a master\u2019s degree in applied data science at NYU, with a concentration in complex systems.<\/p>\n

Thompson returned for a recent visit to participate in a \u201cQueen Out\u201d queer dance party in San Francisco and a Brazilian martial arts capoeira festival in Oakland. The prospect of returning for good remains elusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of friends within each one of these niches,\u201d they said, \u201cso leaving that was very heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JervaniJervani Thompson, center, takes part in the Festa Da Capoeira event on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Oakland, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\u2018Chasing grandchildren\u2019<\/p>\n

If California didn\u2019t have so many scenic wonders, from the mountains of Yosemite to the beaches of Santa Cruz, Steve Franzese and his wife of 49 years would have moved by now.<\/p>\n

Most of the lifelong friends they made raising their children in Saratoga have moved away \u2014 \u201cchasing grandchildren\u201d whose parents couldn\u2019t afford the Bay Area. Franzese\u2019s own children and grandchildren have scattered to Los Angeles and Brooklyn, with one in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose roots and the connectedness are kind of disappearing,\u201d said Franzese, who is 76 and had a successful career in marketing and business development at Apple in its early years and other tech companies after that. It might be time, he said, to downsize from their four-bedroom home.<\/p>\n

But there are other gnawing reasons. He finds himself constantly at odds with the direction the Bay Area and the state are going, especially progressive policies like sanctuary cities that protect immigrants without legal status and what he considers excessive taxes. And while he may not agree with those policies, he has tolerated them for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat falls under the category of elections have consequences,\u201d Franzese said. \u201cYou put up with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lately, however, politics has felt more personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unwelcome mat was rolled out,\u201d Franzese said.<\/p>\n

Successful people are \u201cvillainized\u201d here, he said, and the Proposition 40\u00a0 \u201cbillionaires tax\u201d<\/a> on the November ballot, which would levy a one-time 5% tax on people with assets valued above $1 billion \u201ctrickles down to everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that passes, the house goes on the market pretty quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He and his wife have already looked at real estate in Palm Springs, Lake Tahoe and Scottsdale. Still, the prospect is heartbreaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get a sense of what the world has to offer and it\u2019s all right here,\u201d Franzese said. \u201cAnd then you look at the politicians destroying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SteveSteve Franzese of Saratoga at his four-bedroom ranch-style home, where he has lived since 1997, on Sept. 28, 2026. (Dai Sugano\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\nWhy staying has become harder<\/p>\n

Hancock, who leads the nonprofit that commissioned the Silicon Valley Poll, said it\u2019s up to politicians to solve California\u2019s problems, especially the housing crisis, and believes it\u2019s a good sign that the state is imposing housing requirements on local municipalities.<\/p>\n

In many ways, however, the region\u2019s problems seem intractable: The world\u2019s \u201chottest economy\u201d was built on a narrow peninsula, he said, and voters elect politicians \u201cwho make sure that no housing is built in our backyards.\u201d At the same time, he said, \u201cwe\u2019re minting new millionaires and billionaires every day, and so you can actually charge these prices (for real estate) and get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The region\u2019s affordability drove out his own daughter and son-in-law, who moved to Salt Lake City, where they earn good money and purchased a large home to raise their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t work in retail and own a house,\u201d Hancock said. \u201cYou can\u2019t be a nurse and aspire to live here. And so we\u2019re actually not able to blend as healthy communities do. We\u2019ve driven them to the periphery or beyond, and so that\u2019s why it\u2019s getting weird. And what\u2019s left is the culture of the affluent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins, the electrician, spent his career working on the homes of the affluent and the tech campuses that minted them, and fighting for environmental causes along the way, including during \u201cRedwood Summer\u201d in 1990, when he joined the campaign to stop the logging of old-growth redwood trees.<\/p>\n

But supporting six children between the ages of 13 and 31 \u2014 most of whom live on the East Coast now \u2014 he is living in a one-bedroom apartment with a renter sleeping in the living room. To retire, Collins is considering moving not just out of state, but out of the country, perhaps to the Netherlands, where he has relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the bureaucracy gets out of hand, and they\u2019re not leaving any way for the little guy to really stick around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That leaves him with a painful choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to give up on California,\u201d he said. \u201cBelieve me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Collins, 53, looks at the trees in Woodside, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. Collins, an electrician, is a 5th-generation Californian who is considering moving because of affordability. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Electrician David Collins describes living in California and the Bay Area like he\u2019s composing a love letter. \u201cIt\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[189585,189594,189591,189595,208,12055,189589,189592,88,90,89,189593,2280,189590],"class_list":["post-484798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area-housing-costs","tag-bay-area-politics","tag-bay-area-residents","tag-california-migration","tag-cost-of-living","tag-housing-affordability","tag-joint-venture-silicon-valley","tag-leaving-the-bay-area","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-sense-of-belonging","tag-silicon-valley","tag-silicon-valley-poll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}