Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-05-18)

T E C H N O L O G Y

2

18

Edited by

Lynn Thomasson ILLUSTRATION

BY

PATRIK

MOLLWING

Bloomberg Businessweek May 18, 2020

● Workingfromhome,young

techiesrealizeit’scheaperto

liveoutsidetheBayArea

SachinDharthoughtheandhisfiancéehada great

dealpaying$2,650permonthfora one-bedroom

rental in South San Francisco, a short commute

from Facebook Inc.’s offices in Menlo Park, where

she works. But when the social networking com-

pany announced that most employees would be

working from home until the end of the year, their

calculation changed. “It makes no sense paying

Bay Area rent if we can earn our salary living else-

where,” says Dhar, 25, who already works remotely

for a New York advertising startup. They’re consid-

ering moving to Hawaii—or, to really save money,

somewhere in the rural U.S.

Dylan Hecklau is thinking along the same lines.

His ad-tech employer, Jelli Inc., was dubious

aboutlettingpeopleworkfromhomebeforethe

pandemic hit. Now that employees have proven

productive, its attitude has changed. Hecklau, 32,

is planning to take the money he would have spent

ona LakeTahoevacationhomeandmakea down

paymentona permanenthomeinSacramento,

abandoning his $3,200-a-month rental in San

Francisco. “With nothing keeping me here, I can’t

justify paying the rent prices,” he says.

With some of the highest rents in the world, the

Bay Area has been dealing with an affordability cri-

sis for years. The region saw 5.4 new jobs for every

unit of housing built from 2011 to 2017, according

to Bloomberg calculations of U.S. census data. The

entire state is expensive, with the median price

for a house exceeding $600,000, more than dou-

ble the national level. In Silicon Valley that means

most workers have been renting—and are therefore

able to pick up and move.

Both Facebook and Google have announced

that most people won’t need to come in this year,

Escape

From the

Valley