Got a better tech job in SLC. Basically the same salary but with mountains 10 minutes from my office. And work is cancelled if there’s more than 8” of new snow :)

To take my terrible liberal policies and ruin another state with my demands of high taxes, defunded police and absolute total disregard for established law regarding immigration. Turn Texas into California now! I’ll move to Wyoming next!

I was already thinking about leaving the city because it was too expensive to upkeep. I'm getting married soon and my fiance and I couldn't fathom how we'd be able to afford starting/raising a family out in SF. I was close to asking my boss if I could work remotely full-time when covid hit. I decided definitely to move forward with it and they approved the full-time remote work instantly (before it would've been a long process). So I moved to Savannah in June and am already saving so much money!

My company is now “remote-first“ and allows me to work from anywhere in the US. My fiancé and I got tired of the traffic in the Bay Area and the inconvenience of needing to drive or Uber for 20-60 minutes to go a couple miles. Also, the homeless epidemic has been an issue for a while now and there are no signs of relief, so I’d like to live somewhere cleaner, safer, and more accessible. Eventually we’ll want a family and child care in SF is exorbitant as well as the housing prices—buying? Out of the question, renting? A family can’t fit in 750 square feet.

Well if we CAN move we will. My husband and I have lived in the Bay Area 6 years and intended to buy a house here in about 3 years. Now with COVID our work places have both gone remote. If that continues and we get the okay to move out of state we want to buy a house in Fort Collins CO where my husband is from. We can get a house for 300k instead of 800k. Seems like a no brainer to me as long as we can keep our SF salaries.

New job I secured in December and promised to relocate from SF to NYC by August. Safe to say, I'm trading bad for worse (COVID-wise). Got a taste of NYC life in Jan and Feb while I was living in a corporate apartment. Loved it. Not sure what COVID life has in store, but I'd give anything to trade my high rise apartment for a plot of land with a garden.

I’m saving $2500 on a monthly basis by moving out of the Bay Area and living with family temporarily. I always had a goal to buy a house north of Atlanta and now that goal has been expedited by a couple of years. I’ll buy a house there hopefully this fall.

Company is letting us work remotely for the rest of the year. My rent is $3400 in SF so why bother to renew my lease? The city has been deteriorating for a while

I actually left SF last summer after four years living here. SF continues to be my favorite city, but it got to be too damn expensive. I had a great job making six figures a year, and even that income couldn't provide the quality of life that living in Texas has given me. My salary was cut 30% with the move yet I'm still taking home more money each month due to rent ($800/mo in ATX vs. $2000/mo in SF), and things are just cheaper here.

We were going to do this eventually anyway (trying to start a family and want to buy a home - which isn't feasible in San Francisco if you want any sort of space) - but the remote friendly stance of our employers and lack of ability to do the things that living in a city is useful for (social outings / dining out) has accelerated this decision.

We already own a home there- why pay over-priced rent in SF when work doesn't keep you there?

Right now we rent, don't have a yard, feels like people are on top of each other. Need more space but also need to stay in reasonable proximity to work (we were lucky enough to keep our jobs).

I'm getting married!

More space, start a family. sf is not affordable and the quality of life has significantly decreased with the lack of activities.

Officially moved in a few weeks ago. My roommate got laid off and I'm working remotely. It was either look for a cramped place in SF to live and work out of (roommate searches are now also coworker searches) OR find a place with more space and go SUP-ing on my lunch breaks in Lake Tahoe. Decision was easy enough.

Much cheaper cost of living, similar good food scene. Moving from 900 sqft apt at 3750 per month to a 4500 sqft house costing 950000

Tahoe's great. I've rented there seasonally in the winter for years. Could afford a 5bd/3ba house for a mortgage that's similar to my share of a 2bd apartment in SF. And I plan to be working remote for the foreseeable future. why stay?

SF sucks

Tired of my fiance and I living in a 650 square foot box and needing to use our living room as an office, gym, dining room, living room. I am a consultant and was on the road Monday - Thursday every week before COVID. Being a prisoner in my own home is far worse than being a road warrior.

The charismatic and vibrant San Francisco we used to love is long gone. It is now stupid expensive, filthy and disproportionately biased towards the Tech. And the Tech, profoundly lacking liberal arts education is not known for its empathy — lives in it's own bubble. Long story short: Barcelona is twice the city for half the price.

My company is now “remote-first“ and allows me to work from anywhere in the US. My fiancé and I got tired of the traffic in the Bay Area and the inconvenience of needing to drive or Uber for 20-60 minutes to go a couple miles. Also, the homeless epidemic has been an issue for a while now and there are no signs of relief, so I’d like to live somewhere cleaner, safer, and more accessible. Eventually we’ll want a family and child care in SF is exorbitant as well as the housing prices—buying? Out of the question, renting? A family can’t fit in 750 square feet.

Im working remotely due to Covid and my partner was laid off because of Covid and found a new job in Austin

Excessively high rent and uncertainty.

I want more space and a yard, especially since the benefits of living in the city are gone right now (restaurants, nightlife, etc.). But, I don't know if I'll be able to work remote permanently, so I need to remain in the Bay Area.

Being locked down in San Francisco is insufferable. The metaphysical doom-scrolling is one thing -- stepping outside into physical dystopia is heartbreaking.

To find cheaper rent- prices have gone into free fall. We are currently negotiating a rent decrease of over 20% with our landlord, jury is still out if they will agree

With rents going down we plan to upgrade homes. Our current location is ok but there are houses on the market that are a lot nicer for the same price.

I was looking for a reason to move prior to the pandemic. With COVID and the general remote work acceptance, I'm now expediting my move.

Closer to family, rents too high in SF. Also I kept getting robbed?!

Real simple- since I can now work from home I am lowering my state income tax from 13% to 0% here in Nevada. My property tax will go from my current 12,000 to 2,355 for the same size house, 1814 square feet.

Rents and taxes!! Rents for retail space as well are not sustainable. For a company to lease a spot, rents result in negative monthly cash flow why open a store if it’s chase flow negative amenity??!?

We recently moved to a suburb of Portland. We moved because we outgrew our tiny 1-bedroom apartment in San Francisco after having our first baby. We wanted to buy a house and the only thing we could afford in the Bay Area (with two well paying tech salaries) was a tiny fixer-upper deep into the East Bay, which would have left us a soul-crushing commute into SF everyday. This would have been a rough quality of life -- spending nearly all of the day in the car or office, getting home just in time to put our baby to bed. Instead, we convinced our employers to let us go remote and bought a 3,500 sq. ft., new-construction home with a mortgage payment equal to what we paid in rent for our ancient and dilapidated 1-bedroom apartment in SF.

I'm a master tenant of a house with 4 roommates. I'm stuck in between the landlord and the tenants, with a current tenant unable to pay rent but theres a moratorium on evictions. So my options are limited.

Leaving SF after 6 years to San Diego.Me and my girlfriend were each paying $1600+ to live with housemates. Now we're paying $1200 to live in a 2br 2 bath 2 blocks from the beach (by ourselves!) Will miss you SF!

No social spaces are open. Too many friends on IG out and about as if Nothing Is going on. The office isn’t opening until the end of the year. So with that, I’m dumping 80 percent of my stuff in storage and moving home to save 2k+ rent Until early next year. I survived this first have, I can survive this second half working from home.

I'm worried about the housing market in San Francisco, so this feels like the only time I could sell my house and not lose all my money. Spoiler: (we actually already moved a couple weeks ago) but when we tried to book a Uhaul in early June there was only one Uhaul left for the 10 day period we wanted to move, so we had to drive to Napa to pick up the truck.

Over priced and little space and low value. Moving to give my kids a backyard and surrounding hiking trails.

I’m buying my first house

Significantly cheaper cost of living.

ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAINS!!! Also paying less than half on rent...

SF sucks

Can't safely walk down our own block - and we're paying through the nose for it!

Law school at NYU

We found an amazing deal on an apartment that was double the size of our current one, with a backyard (2 bed, 3 bath) for only $25 more a month than what we were paying. We love SF and don't want to leave esp if we are returning to work in 2021, but moving into a bigger space that is more ideal for WFH has been amazing

I've lived in San Francisco for 3 years in a 3-bedroom apartment with 3 other roomates. (There were 4 of us in the 3-bedroom, I lived in the living room.) I came back to Chicago in the beginning of quarantine because I wanted to be with my family and also needed more space than all working on top of each other. While I was here, I found so much joy and a new sense of responsibility in saving a significant amount of money not living in San Francisco and kept asking myself why I was living there, paying a lot in rent and also paying a lot in....everything - meals, Ubers (over $900 per month), and activities and events. Our lease was up July 1 and I just didn't have the conviction to sign another lease in SF. Two of my roomates moved in with their sig-others, and one moved to Bend, Oregon. I felt this was a good opportunity to take some time to think about where I want to be and if San Francsico is that place. I just don't know! I appreciate this article because I like seeing both perspectives on cities - some days I think I'll never go back and some days I think I know I'll miss California.

I moved in March right as sf shut down and closed my lease at the place I was renting

Paying way too much and not getting the same value anymore.

We gave up our expensive sf rent for the time being to save up and hopefully buy when *fingers crossed* the city flight shows up in home prices

Paying $4k for a 1 bedroom 620 sq ft apartment, only to walk over needles and human feces every time I leave my apartment. Nahh I'm good.

We are moving to a larger apartment in SF because we need more room and to eventually start a family. We want to capitalize on the lower prices

I moved from my small 1 br in SF, into a 2 br in SF with one of my best friends (she has a fantastic rent controlled situation that even in covid rent drop times, still wins out). But we only combined households to have disposable income to rent places around the country and explore, while we can both WFH for the next year.

What I can OWN in phoenix vs. what I pay to RENT is San Francisco is pretty drastic. Its just a financial decision and allows me to have more disposable income to put towards investment and retirement and hopefully gain equity in a home instead of bleeding 3K in rent for a studio apartment.

Much cheaper cost of living, similar good food scene. Moving from 900 sqft apt at 3750 per month to a 4500 sqft house costing 950000

I work in Tech and I can do my job from anywhere. As a dual citizen of US and Canada, I decided it was safer (and cheaper) in Canada. My girlfriend and family are also here. My manager supported me and now I am working from Canada full time until COVID is no longer a threat.

Betting on more remote work options in the future, especially in tech

Roommate moved out and we heard rents were down so we looked and they were! So we got a better place for less money

Company is letting us work remotely for the rest of the year. My rent is $3400 in SF so why bother to renew my lease? The city has been deteriorating for a while

It really doesn't make sense to be paying rent in a city where I can't currently reap the benefits of being in that city (hanging with friends, meetings new people, eating at fancy restaurants). Given my office is closed at least until the new year I'm moving back home with my parents in the suburbs until it makes sense to move back to a city.

Husband got job offer for Seattle company during SIP. We have until July 2021 to transition but feel like Seattle maybe safer than the Bay Area until a vaccine is found.

My wife and I already moved last month. The combination of cheaper rent, deterioration of SF, and being able to quickly get back to SF when needed made it a no brainer. So far it’s 10/10 would recommend.

We’re able to buy a house (with a yard and a 2 car garage) for the same price as our 800 sq ft apartment. Plus, no landlord means nobody telling us we can’t have a dog or three.

I’m moving because my husband and I have shared tiny living spaces in San Francisco for over 8 years, we also have a dog. San Francisco will always be home but we’ve been considering relocating for about a year now. Before that, we would have never imagined living anywhere else. If anything, the pandemic accelerated our decision - more space and less congestion with other people. We both work in tech and are beyond grateful to have the opportunity to work remotely at least for the time being — we know this isn’t the case for everyone. Our plan is to stay in Sonoma County for at least a year and determine whether we’d be comfortable staying. We’re planning to move into a rental house - ultimately it’s better for our family to have some space and quiet.

Lifestyle matters now, not later and the Bay Area's costs have outweighed the benefits. I'll continue to work with Silicon Valley but by being out of there, I can breathe again.

My company could not raise money and all 35 employees were let go.

Rent prices are still steep in the city and now that I have a WAH schedule, saving on commute (money & time), I’m moving to we’re the rent is affordable and I can live In a more spacious home

For the last 15 years I’ve been in SF. I love it for the activities it allows and the people. I’ve also stayed for work. Now, work is remote and my studio apartment was tiny for that. I can’t really be with people, and much of what Is unique to the city that is not outdoors is closed. For the short term, I’m living with family. A trade off of California life was missing daily proximity vs vacation mode with family. I’ll be with them until things settle and then will find somewhere in the mountains for the winter and tbd thereafter. Flexibility feels freeing right now. We will see in 4 months how it feels.

To save money and build up savings. My office has shifted to WFH for 2020, so there's really no reason for me to live in the city at the moment.

New found ability/permission to wfh. Hoping to buy a home in the near future, and that will never happen in SF. Have been dying to live somewhere with more enjoyable weather, lifestyle, etc.

Price and opportunity

Tired of paying 2,000/month for a bedroom! With remote work through the end of the year, it’s time to make the change.

Once I’m out of my lease terms, I plan to go back home for sometime and wait this out! I do hope to get back to the city soon but it doesn’t make sense to be there right now

Moving to LA for a new job. Signed with my new firm back in May 2019 though (private equity recruits from banking 1-2 years in advance), so quitting old job / starting new job isn’t COVID-related.

My fiancé and I thought this would be a good time to potentially buy a house, and it was. We were able to negotiate the price under asking.

Moved out of my SF apartment back to my parents’ in San Jose. My sister, 3 coworkers, and 2 of my other housemates did as well. The point of living in the city was to be close to other people, but now that’s not an option, why pay expensive rent?

Better quality of life, better value

I'm moving to Lake Tahoe, because it is beautiful and costs less than San Francisco.

It doesn't make sense for me to pay $4K a month in a small apartment in the city when I am working from home indefinitely.

I’m going to finally see about buying a house here. I’m not ready to give up and think maybe this could be good for cities. If rent goes down we can attract a more diverse demographic. Maybe it can be a place for artists and musicians and activists again.

I've always dreamed of living alone but that's not an option living in San Francisco. Instead, I've spent the past 6 years living with 5 people. Now that prices are dropping, I found a beautiful one bedroom in Berkeley. I can't wait to get out of this city and be closer to nature. I've always loved living in a city but since being locked down, my fomo has declined as fast as rental prices and my inner aspiring-green-thumb is begging for some attention. Time to move somewhere with more space and more access to nature!

SF sucks

It was time to own instead of rent and I wanted to be where I was happiest

Ability to work remotely makes it an easy decision: lower cost of living, more outdoor recreation, less big city problems.

New adventures, lower costs, be with family, and I have location independence in my work. Here's a kicker though -- our landlord is offering our apartment at an over 20% INCREASE in rent... no decrease here -- near UCSC Parnassus.

One roommate is getting married. One is awkward. And I live near a bunch of homeless people who break my car windows.

My fiance and I live in a 3-bedroom apartment with two other roommates. He and I have been talking about buying a house for awhile now, but the pandemic has accelerated our plans. Since April all four of us have been working from home. Space is tight. It looks like all of us will be continuing to work from home until at least the end of the year, and my fiance will likely never have to return to his office, at least not full time. My fiance and I are looking at homes in the Oakland hills, where we would have more space, but we would also be close enough to my workplace that the commute wouldn't be terrible. We're also considering renting a place in Minneapolis, closer to my family, through the end of the year, while we wait for the right house to come on the market.

Wanted some land to play on and escape SF cost of living

Already officially moved out of SF in June. Best decision of my life.

Technically, we won't move within six months; however, we plan to move after our wedding next spring and are in the mental preparation stage. It's pretty cut and dry as to why we are leaving. We accept the high cost of living because of the access SF affords us. Access to the top restaurants, bars, comedy shows, concerts, and most importantly, friends. Like most folks, the move is inevitable, but COVID has accelerated this decision given the reasons above we live in SF won't be the same anytime soon, and our friends are packing up too.

We are faced with a few hurdles (1) We have been in SF for 15 months and we like it more than we liked Seattle (our previous city). (2) Though Atlanta is homebase for us, COVID cases are higher there and that's a big risk because we are Black and the virus has disproportionately affected Black people so far. So even with the higher cost of living, we feel safer with the precautions taken in the Bay Area.

New job, affordable housing, not having to live paycheck to paycheck, be able to support family

We’ve been talking about moving to East Bay and buying a house for a while. Now seems as a good a time as ever! We also feel like we have a lot more flexibility on area we choose since we will be WFH for the foreseeable feature and don’t necessarily need to be right at a BART station. The bummer is that a lot of people seem to have the same idea and even teeny houses are going for WAY over asking price.

I currently live with two roommates. We're all working remotely until at least 2021, and our lease is up at the end of August. We're all planning on "floating" around for a few months (live with a parent, live temporarily in a new/cheaper city), then we'll all find new places to live in San Francisco while rents are low and availability is high. I'm planning on finally making it into an affordable and decent studio, I'm optimistic about finding something pretty good for around $2k/month.

2 kids in a 2 bdrm. No way.

Rent is too much here! And no city perks to make the cost feel worth it.