As concerns about a California exodus spread during the COVID-19 pandemic, media across the country speculated about the end of the reign of coastal metros like San Francisco and Los Angeles. It turned out that while many residents did leave those cities, they tended to simply move to other parts of the state to settle down. A new report out this week shows that trend continuing with California renters opting to pingpong all over the state instead of moving to another state altogether.
For San Francisco renters searching for a new place to live, 40% were looking at a different metro area, according to a new report from rental site Apartment List. San Jose was the most popular place, with 23.3% of searches focused on its Bay Area neighbor. Sacramento was the second most sought-after market at 10.3% of searches, and Los Angeles had 6.3%.
For those looking to move to San Francisco, the trend was similar, with most searches coming from San Jose (20.5%). Los Angeles (11.2%) and Sacramento (7%) were next in line, respectively…