Why L.A. is struggling while San Francisco is beginning to boom again - BERITAJA

The COVID-19 pandemic brought reliable times for some Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Crime concisely rose. Rising lodging prices mixed pinch the opportunity to activity remotely led to declines successful population. Concerns complete blights and value of life became governmental issues.

But now, location are early signs of a postcrisis divergence successful fortunes betwixt the 2 cities.

The downtown Los Angeles skyline.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

A communicative of 2 cities

San Francisco is successful the midst of a caller tech roar fueled by artificial intelligence that has lured caller residents to the metropolis and boosted a downtown economy. The metropolis netted a mini summation successful organization past year, according to caller U.S. census data.

Los Angeles County, by contrast, is still struggling. Population losses are continuing, and its system is being deed by respective forces including a shrinking Hollywood manufacture and President Trump’s migration policies that person slowed maturation and upended immoderate business sectors.

It will return galore much years to spot whether this go a larger trend. Demographers opportunity the San Francisco boost is notable but acold from a motion of roar times ahead.

In fact, galore experts opportunity precocious lodging prices and different factors proceed to make much affordable cities extracurricular California very attractive, particularly to younger people.

“Housing is of people astatine the apical of the statement for about group who are leaving,” said Hans Johnson, a elder chap astatine the Public Policy Institute of California. “San Francisco is experiencing a benignant of AI roar moreover arsenic different components of tech aren’t doing arsenic well.”

AI is booming successful San Francisco.

(Manuel Orbegozo/For The Times)

Migration patterns matter

Census information show San Franicsco’s organization was up 0.62% successful 2025, successful opposition to statewide numbers that remained mostly level while L.A. County recorded a 0.55% decrease.

Another tech halfway conscionable southbound of San Francisco — Santa Clara County — saw its organization emergence 0.33%. In San Diego County, the organization dropped 0.16%.

The percent changes are not huge, but they connection a snapshot of the regions.

In earthy numbers, L.A. County mislaid about 54,000 group from July 2024 to July 2025, the largest numeric organization diminution successful the nation, information from the Census Bureau show.

A awesome facet successful 2025’s organization trends was a crisp driblet successful nett world migration. As the Trump management launched an fierce clampdown connected immigration, L.A. County saw the number of caller residents coming successful from overseas plummet from 92,000 group successful 2024 to 29,000 successful 2025.

Silicon Valley and L.A. reported losses akin to those of different states from 2024 to 2025, said Jenna Nobles, a professor of demography astatine UC Berkeley, but successful Santa Clara County, world workers brought to the U.S. by tech companies successful Northern California helped stave disconnected organization losses to different states.

That was not the lawsuit successful Los Angeles County, which had a nett nonaccomplishment of 105,000 residents because of home migration retired of the region successful 2025, a flimsy summation from the erstwhile twelvemonth erstwhile the region mislaid 99,629.

Hollywood is not a immense portion of the Los Angeles County employment. But it has go a root of awesome concern, pinch movie and tv shooting moving retired of the authorities and occupation losses topping 45,000 successful caller years.

Hollywood accumulation has taken a hit.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Bouncing backmost differently

Those and different forces whitethorn person played a domiciled successful the about 40% of agency abstraction available successful downtown Los Angeles astatine the extremity of past year, according to the existent property patient CBRE. Overall vacancy location climbed from 14% successful 2019 to 34% successful 2025.

Adding to Southern California’s economical struggles, the Eaton and Palisades fires contributed to a nett nonaccomplishment of 0.5% successful gross home merchandise successful Los Angeles County successful 2025, according to a study by UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Office leasing successful San Francisco, meanwhile, roseate by 20% successful 2024 and reached its highest level since 2019, per the San Francisco Examiner, arsenic AI companies brought successful tens of billions of dollars successful task money.

Though agency vacancy successful San Francisco was astatine 34.4%, much abstraction was leased than vacated for the first clip since 2019, according to the San Francisco Standard.

San Francisco’s unemployment complaint was 4.1% successful January, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In Los Angeles County, it was 5.5%.

Johnson cautions about reference excessively overmuch into the numbers — astatine slightest astatine this point.

“San Francisco has built a spot of caller housing, about of it multiunit lodging and ample buildings,” he said.

In some L.A. and San Francisco, the number of group per family has been going down arsenic births decrease.

San Francisco already had a very debased number of children per household, truthful it has been affected little by the nationwide diminution successful commencement rates, he said. “Los Angeles has further to fall,” Johnson said.

Another quality betwixt the 2 cities is nett migration to different states. San Francisco’s out-migration declined from tens of thousands per twelvemonth during the pandemic emergency to about 100 group past year, while L.A. County’s nett nonaccomplishment was much than 100,000, Johnson said.

Pacific Palisades was deed difficult by a 2025 fire.

(Eric Thayer/For The Times)

The large picture

Since L.A. County’s organization is much than 10 times that of San Francisco County, a nett nonaccomplishment of 100,000 Angelenos would beryllium proportionally akin to losing 10,000 San Franciscans.

“The large image is that neither place’s organization is changing overmuch population-wise — it’s not for illustration San Francisco is taking off,” he said, “and it’s not for illustration Southern California is having immense declines successful population.”

“We’ve moved from this young, growing, booming authorities to thing much for illustration a mature, slow-growing state,” Johnson said. “More for illustration New York than Texas.”

The census findings should besides impact authorities planning, he said. “There’s immoderate existent challenges location successful position of having capable workers to support an aging population.”

If populations stall, taxation gross whitethorn travel — particularly income taxes, per an analysis by CalMatters — starring to little spending powerfulness for the authorities arsenic ostentation brings costs up.

Times unit writer Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.