Rising costs driving down the population of California’s Bay Area

Even with lucrative tech jobs and some of the best weather inthe country, thousands more people have flfled the Bay Area’s high housing costs and jam med roads than have moved into the region in recent years.

According to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the five-- county BayArea lost a net total of nearly 35,400 people between 2013-17, not counting births and new arrivals fromother countries.

Alameda County, California, saw the most outward migration, with almost 13,000more people leaving than arriving over that time frame. Santa Clara County came in second, bleeding a total of almost 8,200people. San Francisco saw the lowest net losses at just 1,385 people over those five years.

As in the past, Texas and Oregon remain popular locations for those leaving the Bay Area, according to the data released this week. A net total of more than 4,000 people moved to the Lone Star State, while more than 3,600 decamped to Oregon. Nevada, Washington and Arizona were popular choices, as were Idaho, Tennessee and North Carolina.

A poll conducted earlier this year for this news organization and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group found that 44% of those surveyed said they were likely tomove away from the Bay Area within a few years, pointing to housing and living costs as key factors prompting them to leave.

Still, even as thousands of Bay Area residents pack up and head out, thousands of people— albeit fewer in number — moved in. New Yorkers, especially, still fifind the Bay Area attractive, with a net total of more than 3,600 people moving from the eastern state to the Bay Area. People from Illinois, NewJersey, Pennsylvania and elsewhere were also still moving to the Bay Area in signifificant numbers.

People also relocated within the Bay Area, a process that appears to be pushing some residents of comparatively less-expensive Contra Costa County out of the area altogether.

People from San Francisco County were most likely to move to Alameda County, home to Oakland.

Residents of Alameda County were most likely to go to Contra Costa County, with residents of that county unlikely to relocate within the Bay Area and more likely to head for cheaper parts of California or other states like Texas, Nevada and Washington.

Residents of San Mateo County were more likely to move to the East Bay than to San Francisco or the South Bay, while Santa Clara County residents moved to all four of the other BayArea counties.