“We end up with these discussions not based in reality.” I can assure you that these discussions, while anecdotal, are in aggregate largely based in reality.

“We end up with these discussions not based in reality.” I can assure you that these discussions, while anecdotal, are in aggregate largely based in reality. I’m very liberal and enjoy some aspects San Francisco provides (mostly related to me being a lifelong skateboarder and surfer). I spent four of the last ten years in Berkeley and two in San Francisco. That said, I would not want to move there again. Everything (save a few hole-in-the-wall restaurants) is overpriced for the quality. The public drug use is insane, and itself a public health issue (there were more deaths from overdoses than from covid last year). Needles are everywhere. It’s sad to see people caught up in the grips of addiction every time you leave your porch. People scream to themselves all night. Crime is rampant and largely unpunished. Anecdotally, last month my friend and his gf were robbed in broad daylight by a car-full of people. Literally had their entire car ransacked at knife point. Many companies (Walgreens) are literally closing down and citing the lack of prosecuted crime as the reason. Housing prices are tremendous, especially when factoring in the house size and proximity to above issues. Again, none of these issues are related, at all, to insecurity. I have a high-paying job in FAANG and regularly ignore recruiters at other FAANG companies in SF not because of some personal insecurity, but because my current QoL is far better than a raise in SF would bring. Many of my friends in similar situations/incomes as myself have left for the same reasons. SF is certainly not the apocalyptic war zone some conservatives claim it to be, and living there isn’t all that terrible. But it’s not hard to see why flight out of the city is such a common occurrence. And it has nothing to do with insecurity. Many people approaching the midpoint of their careers simply want to settle down somewhere more affordable with less stressful externalities.