San Francisco – Silicon Valley One World

Milpitas, Tracy Lead Bay Area Population Growth

26Jun

By EditorNo Comments

Demographics, Events

Milpitas, Tracy Lead Bay Area Population Growth

In a top 20 list dominated by cities in Texas and Arizona, the Bay Area’s Milpitas makes a brave showing at 15th in a new U.S. Census Bureau ranking of the fastest-growing incorporated places in the country with more than 50,000 people. The new Milpitas Transit Center connects the city to the region. It is the only Bay Area city to appear within the fastest-growing cohort. Situated to San Jose’s north and east, the town, whose name means “little cornfields” in Spanish, grew 5 percent from mid-2018 to the middle of last year, reaching not quite 85,000 residents. That's slightly less than its rate of growth in 2014-15, when Milpitas also made a Census Bureau list of fast-growing U.S. cities. Its most current rate of growth compares to a 12 percent growth rate for th...

East Bay Boom-o-rama; Silicon Valley Slip

19May

By EditorNo Comments

Demographics

East Bay Boom-o-rama; Silicon Valley Slip

Has the pendulum swung? East Bay suburbs are leading national population growth even as traditionally prestigious Silicon Valley residential enclaves are struggling to keep residents. By Sharon Simonson Milpitas and Dublin each added more than 5 percent to their populations in the last year alone. Their East Bay neighbors Emeryville, Fremont and the far East Bay’s Brentwood are also growing fast. Fremont has added more than 18,000 people since 2010, reaching 232,000 residents in total. But in what might be an ominous sign, a string of Silicon Valley’s most remote and expensive western suburbs are seeing their populations plateau and even begin to decline. According to just-released U.S. Census figures, more people left Palo Alto last year than moved in, and the same was true in Campbell, ...

Berkeley Workers Bike More Than Anyone Else

27Apr

By EditorNo Comments

Demographics, The Web

Berkeley Workers Bike More Than Anyone Else

By Sharon Simonson A greater proportion of people bike to work in Berkeley than in any other American city with a population of 100,000 or more, according to new calculations from the U.S. Census Bureau. Work commuters in San Francisco and Oakland are also among the most likely to turn to pedal power compared to their peers in other large American cities. To commemorate Bike to Work Week from May 16 to May 20, the bureau ranked the top 20 U.S. cities based on what percentage of their workforce ride a bike to work. Not quite one in 10 Berkeley workers ride bicycles to their jobs. That compares to about 5 percent of workers in San Francisco and slightly less in the East Bay’s Oakland. No South Bay city made the Top 20 list. College towns appear most prominently in the ranking...

Oh Baby! San Francisco Births on the Rise

9Apr

By EditorNo Comments

Demographics

Oh Baby! San Francisco Births on the Rise

State demographers said San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda counties would experience declining births. They were wrong. By Sharon Simonson With wildly expensive housing and poorly perceived public schools, San Francisco has not enjoyed a reputation as a child-rearing mecca. As recently as 2010, state demographers predicted the number of births in the city each year would drop by a quarter over the coming decade. Trend lines were the same in Alameda and San Mateo counties. New U.S. Census Bureau birth estimates illustrate anew the pitfalls of future-telling: the number of babies born each year in both San Francisco and Alameda counties in fact rose from 2010 through 2015 and stayed steady in San Mateo County. A state demographer says their estimates erred in two, relate...

Foreign-born People Stoke Innovation Metros Across the U.S.

28Mar

By EditorNo Comments

Demographics

Foreign-born People Stoke Innovation Metros Across the U.S.

By Sharon Simonson International migrants are fueling population growth coast to coast in U.S. counties with technology- and innovation-centered economies. From the boroughs of New York City to Boston, Los Angeles and San Jose, existing residents are leaving tech-oriented metros, and international migrants are replacing them. Without the immigrants and returning U.S. residents in the last five years, many of the metros would have seen their population growth slow dramatically. Only tech centers Austin and Seattle are drawing steady streams of new residents from neighboring counties and other states and from overseas. The two metros have population growth at more than twice the rate of the nation at large, according to the 2015 population estimates released by the U.S. Census B...

Global Immigration to the Bay Area at 5-Year High

24Mar

By EditorNo Comments

Demographics

Global Immigration to the Bay Area at 5-Year High

By Sharon Simonson International migrants are pouring into the Bay Area at the highest rate in five years, driving population growth and cultural change across the region. More than 238,000 foreign-born people and some Americans returning from abroad moved into Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda counties in the last five years — more than 92,000 came to Santa Clara County alone, according to new U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released today. All five counties have seen their highest rates of international migration since 2010 in the last two years. People coming from overseas or outside the United States accounted for two-thirds of the population growth in both San Francisco and Santa Clara counties from mid-2010 to mid-2015. They represen...

20Mar

By EditorNo Comments

Culture

A Turk in San Francisco

By Sharon Simonson SAN FRANCISCO—Near midday on Monday, March 14, Marc Benioff, founder and chief executive of San Francisco’s Salesforce.com, paused to look up as he entered his company’s new offices at 350 Mission St. Wearing his signature dark sports vest, jeans and running shoes with a Salesforce-blue, short-sleeved collared shirt (tucked in), the 6’ 5’’ tech visionary focused on the huge (2,800 square feet) LED screen that dominated the glass-walled, 50-foot lobby. As he watched, dozens of electric-red spaghetti noodles rose from the bottom of a black screen. After a few moments, they were replaced with a slowly moving blue, aqua and white mosaic. The images—both abstractions and identifiable city scenes—are part of a first-of-its-kind artwork by Turkish-born media art...

Hatching Future Hipsters: Millennials A Tough Act to Follow

20Oct

By EditorNo Comments

Demographics

Hatching Future Hipsters: Millennials A Tough Act to Follow

U.S. metros vie for a smaller youth population; will millennials ever marry and have kids? The post-millennial generation — the nation's youngest — is smaller than its predecessor, leaving most of the nation's large metros with a shrinking population under age 20. The Bay Area's youngest cohort is growing but not fast. By Sharon Simonson The post-millennial generation is less numerous than the millennials. Even with immigration, in coming years, U.S. metropolitan areas will share a smaller youth-pie, according to research by demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institute: "There are places that will have growth in younger populations, but they will be not the norm," Frey said. Fifty-nine of the country's100 largest metropolitan areas saw a shrinking number of children fr...