Bay Area residents are becoming seriously disenchanted with their quality of life, according to a new survey. What's more, a growing number of people are miserable enough that they're thinking about moving.
That survey, which was conducted for the Mercury News and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group by FM3 Research and included over 1,200 registered voters, shows close to 75 percent of people in the Bay Area say their quality of life has actually gone down over the past five years. That level of dissatisfaction is up from about 65 percent from last year.
Another change from the 2019 survey is the fact that more than are considering a move out of the Bay Area. 47 percent of people say they pull up stakes, while 45 percent say they plan on staying put.
Digging deeper into the data from the survey shows dissatisfaction is equally felt by the wealthy and poor, the younger and older generations, as well as homeowners and renters. While Democrats were less likely to complain about how life is going in the Bay area than the 80 percent of Republicans or Independents who did so, still about 70 percent the more liberal voters are unhappy.
The concerns appear to be a lack of progress in dealing with homelessness, the skyrocketing cost of housing, and the slowing ride on disintegrating roads. In fact, upset about homelessness is up from nearly 80 percent in 2019 to almost 90 percent this year.