Rich San Franciscans headed to the slopes during the pandemic exodus.
WheelhausUPDATE:S.F. area’s exodus of rich peopleled to biggest drop in household income of any U.S. city
Where did San Francisco’s wealthiest people decamp to inthe pandemic’s first,可怕的波?豪华滑雪小镇,据data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Each year, the IRS collects data on how many people are listed on tax returns filed in a given region, along with the total amount of income reported on those returns. It tracks migration by comparing the addresses people file at from one year to the next, calculating the total number of people moving from one region to another and the total amount of income moving between those regions.
Previously the Chronicle reportedthat because of San Francisco’s steep population loss — the city lost 4.5% of individuals listed on tax returns, or 39,000 people, according to the IRS data — people who left San Francisco by the time they filed their 2019 tax returns took about $10.6 billion with them, while people entering the city made just $3.8 billion in total, a net loss of nearly $7 billion.
The county that saw the wealthiest movers from San Francisco on average was Teton County, Wyoming, home to Jackson Hole and its famed ski resorts. The data showed that 40 different families, comprising 63 people total, filed their 2019 taxes in San Francisco and then filed their 2020 taxes in Teton County, accounting for a total of $37 million in income moving from San Francisco to Teton. That is an average of $586,000 per person, according to the IRS data.
Two other ski resort-heavy counties in the West made the top 10 regions with the wealthiest San Francisco movers: Washoe County, Nevada, located right next to Lake Tahoe, was number two, with 333 San Francisco newcomers with an average income of $324,000 per person on filings. Summit County, Utah — where the Park City ski resort is located — was number six, with the 96 people moving to the county accounting for nearly a quarter-million dollars of income on average.
Numbers three, four and five were Palm Beach County, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Suffolk County, New York, the county encompassing Long Island.People moving to these counties from San Franciscoaccounted for an average of $304,000, $273,000 and $247,000 in income each.
Based on the data, on the whole, people who left San Francisco for another state accounted for more money — an average of $155,000 in income — than people who left the city for another part of California, which accounted for an average of $130,000.
The counties with the lowest-incomeSan Franciscans movinginto them tended to be nearby, and more affordable. Merced, Fresno and Solano were among the counties that saw the least-wealthy movers from the city. But some lower-incomeSan Franciscans also movedout-of-state, primarily to rural counties in Oregon, Texas and Washington state.
The IRS data also shows that the average income of people leaving San Francisco in 2020 shot up 67% from the previous year, from $82,000 to $138,000. That’s likely due to companies relaxing their work-from-home policies during the pandemic and the subsequent quieting of once-busy downtowns, trends which increased demand for larger homes outside of urban regions.
Susie Neilson (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email:susie.neilson@sfchronicle.com
