The housing crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area is forcing even high-earning software engineers to consider leaving. According to research by Joint Venture Silicon Valley, the region creates considerable wealth but job growth has not kept pace, and housing prices continue to soar beyond reach. In Silicon Valley, only 28% of Millennials own homes, compared to 68% of Baby Boomers, according to the same research. Ani and Alex Vecchi, two 30-year-old software engineers living in San Francisco's Hayes Valley neighborhood, love the city but worry that the cost of raising children there exceeds their means. Mark Wogulis and Melanie Bowden, 62 years old, had to sell their home in Berkeley and move to Santa Fe after Wogulis was laid off — and according to his wife, there are signs of age discrimination in his job search. Russell Hancock, Chief Executive Officer of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, sums up the situation: "The economy is very hot. Creating lots of wealth. But not creating enough jobs. And housing is too expensive.
The economy is very hot, creating lots of wealth — but housing is too expensive for anyone other than the wealthy to afford to stay.
Analysis
Only 28% of Millennials in Silicon Valley own homes — a figure that exposes a core paradox of America's tech economy: the world's richest center of innovation is gradually becoming a place where only those who already have assets can afford to stay.
The story of Ani and Alex Vecchi is not an exception — it is a repeating pattern affecting tens of thousands of knowledge workers who pour into the Bay Area each year. They arrive for the startup ecosystem, stay for the urban culture, then must leave because they cannot buy a home or afford to raise children. This cycle is creating an increasingly young city without roots — and in the long term, that harms the very economy that investors are promoting.
Mark Wogulis's case reflects another class being pushed out: older workers in pharmaceutical and biotech fields — people who have built their lives here for decades but can no longer withstand a round of layoffs. With no safety net and housing too expensive to continue waiting for new work, migration becomes the only practical option.
The problem is not just housing prices. It is the result of decades of planning policy that prioritized preserving existing real estate over building new homes — a political choice that benefits asset-owning classes and increasingly disadvantages everyone who came after.
Diaspora Impact
Two groups within the Vietnamese diaspora are directly impacted by this crisis.
First, Vietnamese-origin engineers and programmers in Silicon Valley — particularly those holding H-1B visas or waiting for green cards — do not have the geographic freedom that American citizens enjoy. If their sponsor company closes or lays them off, they must find new employment within 60 days or leave the United States. With average rent in San Francisco currently still above 3,000 USD per month for a one-bedroom apartment, the financial pressure during visa transitions is extremely severe.
Second, 1.5-generation and second-generation engineers in the 28 to 35 age range who want to start families but cannot afford to buy homes here. Many are considering relocating south to Southern California — particularly to the Little Saigon area in Orange County — where housing prices are lower and the community offers support for childcare from grandparents.