San Francisco Bay Area's Workforce Housing Gap

Housing in the San Francisco Bay Area is persistently unaffordable, creating challenges for the local
workforce. According to Priced Out, in 2009, every county in the Bay Area fell within the 15% least affordable in the country; only New York City was less affordable. High housing prices are not isolated to neighborhoods close-in to the city, but extend across the region.

Major findings:

• Only 15% of existing for-sale homes in the Bay Area is affordable to workforce households, defined as earning between 60 and 120% of Area Median Income (AMI), compared with 50 to 60% of for-sale homes in comparable metro regions.
• A higher percent of workforce households that are renting pay more than 30% of their income on rent than in comparable metro regions.
• Major industries affected include health care; manufacturing; professional, scientific, and technical services; and education.
• If current trends continue, by 2025 there will be unmet demand for 6,000 units of for-sale workforce housing and 29,000 units of workforce housing for rent.