SF Bay Area near top of list of places people are moving away from: report

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The San Francisco Bay Area is ranked second in terms of cities and metro areas that people are moving away from, according to a new study. The annual moving trends report from moving and storage company PODS analyzes long-distance moving numbers between January 2024 and March 2025 and compares those to previous years.

Northern California has ranked second in terms of places people are leaving for two years in a row, right behind another California city. For the second year running, Los Angeles has topped the list of places with the highest number of move-outs, the report states.

The South Florida area around Miami is ranked third, with Long Island, NY at fourth, and San Diego rounding out the top five places people are moving away from. Several other California cities were also in this year’s top 20.

“People are still leaving California in droves,” the report stated. “Echoing last year’s numbers, California is home to seven cities on our top 20 list of move-outs, though this year only three markets made it into the top 10.”

LA and NorCal have maintained the top two spots now for four years in a row, according to the report. The report cites California’s rising cost of living, particularly housing costs that are nearly double, and high tax rates as among the factors driving “California’s mass exodus.”

Top 20 places people are moving out of:

1. Los Angeles, CA (1st in 2024)
2. Northern California (San Francisco area) (2nd in 2024)
3. South Florida (Miami area) (3rd in 2024)
4. Long Island, NY (Serving parts of NYC) (4th in 2024)
5. San Diego, CA (8th in 2024)
6. Central Jersey, NJ (6th in 2024)
7. Chicago, IL (7th in 2024)
8. Boston, MA (13th in 2024)
9. Hudson Valley, NY (10th in 2024)
10. Denver, CO (12th in 2024)
11. Santa Barbara, CA (11th in 2024)
12. Seattle, WA (Not ranked in 2024)
13. Stockton-Modesto, CA (9th in 2024)
14. Washington, DC (Not ranked in 2024)
15. Hartford, CT (15th in 2024)
16. Tampa Bay, FL (Not ranked in 2024)
17. Fresno, CA (17th in 2024)
18. Austin, TX (5th in 2024)
19. Bakersfield, CA (18th in 2024)
20. Philadelphia, PA (Not ranked in 2024)

On the other side of the coin, the Myrtle Beach, SC/Wilmington, NC area topped the list of places people are moving to for the second year in a row. That was followed by Ocala, FL at number two, Raleigh, NC at number three, Greenville-Spartanburg, SC at number four, and Dallas-Fort Worth at number five.