re: This is what downtown San Francisco looks like right now

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If these locations were such wonderful places to live, why aren’t people flocking to live there?

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Bingo...if we're talking facts:

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San Francisco saw the second largest population decline of all major cities in the U.S. in 2020, according to census data. Only one city —Baltimore — logged a greater population decline.

San Francisco’s population shrank by 1.39% between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020, U.S. Census data shows. Before that, San Francisco’s population had been growing modestly since 2010. Baltimore, meanwhile, declined by 1.42%.

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If you want to expand out a bit:

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San Jose, the most populous city in Santa Clara County with 1.01 million residents, lost almost 13,000 people between 2019 and 2020. That’s roughly 1.26% of the city’s population. The city has seen a steady decline in residents for several years, losing around 2,200 people in 2018 and 8,300 in 2019, according to census data.

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If I'm a resident of one of those cities, those are not great indicators...with remote work, tech companies can have employees anywhere, which means the massive pressures on housing prices will cease, property values will fall, tax revenues will fall, homeowners will be underwater, and the govt will have to find more money elsewhere. And there's a high likelihood the people moving out are the taxpayers, not the leeches.

I live in Chicago and we've seen some of the same things that are happening in SF, just at lower levels. But unlike you, I'm not blind to it and am plotting my escape.