The Decline of the San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

After spending most of his life in Berkeley, Peter Wilson packed up his family last year and moved to Antioch, one of the Bay Area's fastest growing cities.

"Berkeley was getting really expensive," said Wilson, 49, who lives with his wife, Yvette, three children in their 20s and a grandchild. "We got kind of tired of congested city life."

Despite a 90-minute commute to his teaching job in East Oakland, Wilson said he'll never return to his hometown.

"We don't miss it," he said. "I have a big, huge yard, and I love the weather. The streets are cleaner, and the schools are better."

As families like the Wilsons leave the Bay Area's core for the fast-growing suburbs, cities such as Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco are seeing their populations shrink and age, while a multicultural migration continues to the east, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The household population of San Francisco dropped 5 percent, from 756,976 in 2000 to 719,077 in 2005, the new data suggest. In Oakland, the population appears to have gone from 392,309 in 2000 to between 357,796 and 390,024 in 2005.

The most dramatic population decreases in San Francisco were among Hispanic and black residents. The city's black population dropped by between 20 and 25 percent, and the Hispanic population went down as much as 10 percent, according to results of the 2005 community survey.

Not everyone can live off a generous trust fund.I guess the non-rich are voting with their vote out of the Bay area.Doesn't the Democratic Party like non-rich people anymore?