According to several new reports, the Bay Area migration increased in 2020, particularly in the last 3 months, and most of the movement was out-of-state. During the fourth quarter of 2020, approximately 114,600 people left the Bay Area, up 29.7 percent from 2019. Conversely, new arrivals in the Bay Area were down 27.1 percent (54,200) from the same period in 2019.

It should be noted that many of the “migrators” did not leave California, moving instead to a different part of the state. It’s estimated the 80 percent of those leaving San Francisco remained in California.

Experts agree that it’s still too early to tell how long or extensive the exodus might be, but the long-term implications could be extensive.