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The Silicon Valley dream is looking less convincing to Bay Area residents.
For 53% of respondents, hard work alone is insufficient to get ahead and build a good life in the area, according to a survey of 1,801 Bay Area residents conducted by Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a regional think tank, and Bay Area News Group which assessed respondents’ economic, social and political views.
Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Venture, said Silicon Valley served for generations as the epicenter of the American Dream – a place where people could work hard, be creative, change the world, and, of course, make money.
“For the first time, here’s a survey saying, ‘No, that has all fizzled,’” Hancock said. “I think that’s hugely significant. It’s the thing that made us, and now it’s not there – or some people think.”
Roughly six in 10 respondents said the Bay Area and California were on the “wrong track,” a figure that rose to 76% when assessing the direction of the entire country. Yet residents were more optimistic about their own futures: 81% said their lives were headed in the “right direction.”
Like a steady drumbeat, housing, affordability and economic issues repeatedly topped the list of resident worries regardless of how the survey question was framed: reasons for pessimism, key concerns, or degree of importance of certain issues. Those issues, along with growing inequality, have been top of mind year after year, Hancock said.
“They just keep naming it,” Hancock said. “Ninety-four percent of respondents listed housing and the high costs of living here as the most pressing problem facing the Bay Area. In the poll business, that’s the equivalent of unanimity. George Washington was not elected by 94%.”
Nearly half of respondents also reported some degree of financial insecurity, with 48% of people indicating they could not afford to pay monthly expenses and set aside income or investments for savings. Rates of financial insecurity were higher for Black residents (63%) and Hispanic/Latino residents (58%) than white (46%) or Asian (42%) residents.
In questions about family formation, a mere 56% of respondents under age 50 without kids were likely to have them. Affordability concerns and worries about the state of the world topped the list of reasons.
“When you probe, it’s not because they don’t like the Bay Area; they love the Bay Area,” said Hancock. “[Respondents said] this is not a good place to house a family.”
The poll showed negative attitudes toward tech companies and artificial intelligence. Roughly three-quarters of residents (77%) believe leading tech companies have too much power and influence, and 73% believe they have lost their moral compass. Even tech employees agree that companies have excessive power and influence (69%) and a waning moral compass (67%). Roughly four in 10 residents said that the success of Silicon Valley tech companies benefit everyone in the region.
“To me, that’s a screaming headline,” Hancock said. “I couldn’t imagine that a generation ago.”
On artificial intelligence, 47% of residents believe the technology will have a negative impact on society while 19% viewed its impact as positive; the remainder were neutral or unsure. Despite the negative slant, residents are using AI frequently: 51% are using it daily to “constantly” and an additional 14% use it multiple times per week. Still, concerns about AI extend to a wide range of issues, with at least 75% of respondents expressing some or significant concern about lagging government regulation, threats to privacy and civil liberties, career prospects, growing tech industry power, the effects on learning and teaching, job losses and economic inequality.
Nearly two-thirds of residents believe that AI is advancing “too quickly.” This view is echoed by 45% of tech workers in the survey and thousands of tech employees who signed a “pace the frontier” letter in July urging the U.S. government to develop regulatory and technical tools to “buy time to address emerging risks.” In an unexpected twist that rankled a technology adviser to President Donald Trump and fueled Saturday Night Live fodder, tech leaders including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have joined the chorus of those advocating for a slowdown.
The survey also assessed key issues in the upcoming election, including the regional transit measure, which would institute a half-cent sales tax increase in several Bay Area counties and a one-cent increase in San Francisco. Forty-eight percent of respondents favored the proposal while 34% were opposed; 18% were unsure. Support was highest among Gen Z respondents (69%), Democrats (63%) and San Francisco County residents (59%). It was lowest among the Baby Boomer generation and older (40%) and Republicans (17%).
A similar partisan split was seen in support for the wealth tax, which would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on individuals with a net worth of more than $1 billion. Overall, 63% of residents favored the tax, while 80% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans supported it.
“Folks are feeling punitive,” said Hancock. “Not only is there overwhelming support for the measure, but folks feel like the measure doesn’t go far enough.”
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