San Francisco tops list of places residents are considering leaving - primarily for these two cities

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San Francisco tops the list of cities locals are considering leaving

Redfin recently revealed that an unprecedented amount of the searchers on their site are now looking at areas outside of where they currently live.

Those in large metropolises are now considering mid-size cities while those in mid-size cities are eyeing smaller towns and more rural areas.

San Francisco is the city locals are most likely to be considering leaving, with 24% of those on the site searching for homes outside the city. This puts it ahead of even Los Angeles and NYC.

Why are locals considering leaving?

The national shift likely reflects the rise in remote workers who have the flexibility to work outside of the city where their employer is located. It's also financially driven as high inflation and mortgage rates drive people to lower their costs of living.

San Francisco may have finally gotten too expensive even for its affluent residents. The real estate market, traditionally one of the strongest in the country, has topped out, at least for now.

Zillow just released a report chronicling the change in home values by city for the past year. Nationally, home values have increased by an average of 4.35% since February 2022.

Miami leads the increase in home values with an astronomical 10.49% increase in the last 12 months.

San Francisco is at the bottom of Zillow's list, with a 7.73% decline in home values since this time last year.

Where are San Francisco residents thinking of going?

Apparently, San Francisco residents are looking to stay relatively close to home. In-state, they are most likely to be looking at Sacramento, and out-of-state, they are most likely to consider Seattle.

While those places don't necessarily have the lowest cost of living, median home prices are certainly a steal for those used to San Francisco. In the city, the median home price is $1.3 million, compared with $780K in Seattle and $452K in Sacramento.