Regional Economic Recovery Remains Sluggish

For the third quarter in a row, the San Francisco metro area remains second to last in a list of 25 large metropolitan areas and their post-pandemic economic recovery. The metro area includes San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The Bay Area Council Economic Institute, in partnership with CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, updated our Regional Economic Recovery Index with data from the second quarter of the year, tracking recovery across 15 different metrics. 

Explore the Regional Economic Recovery Index>>

The three highest performers? Austin, Dallas, and Houston – hot, up-and-coming Texas regions that have seen staggering growth over the last three years. While the Bay Area  has grown in several ways – reaching pre-pandemic employment levels, bringing in disproportionately high sums of VC dollars, and growing real wages faster than peer metros — its overall growth remains sluggish. 

Not all the news is grim. Another CBRE report ranked the Bay Area at the top of its Tech Talent Scorecard Ranking, handily beating 49 other markets across North America. While a story in the Houston Chronicle this week suggested that tech workers who fled the Bay Area and California for Texas in recent years may be having second thoughts. The story reported that “from January to May this year, Austin saw the fifth-largest net outward migration among major U.S. cities, trailing New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, which actually ranked No. 1 among cities that saw the most people leave during that stretch.”