The Bay Area may not be the economic and innovation hub we thought it was.
A new study suggests that's the direction the region is heading in.
The Milken Institute's "Best-Performing Cities 2021: Foundations for Growth and Recovery" report showed San Jose and San Francisco losing ground to up-and-coming tech hubs in the western and southern United States.
In its annual report, the institute dropped both cities to Tier 2.
The cause can be attributed "to the high cost of housing and a strong negative shift in short-term job growth. This may indicate the outsized effect of the coronavirus pandemic on so-called ‘superstar cities,’" the report said.
Oakland-Berkeley-Livermore, Salinas and Santa Cruz-Watsonville were among the large cities falling the most in the rankings.
Further south, Los Angeles fell 40 spots in the year-to-year list.
Two Utah destinations - Provo and Salt Lake City - shot to the top of the Milken "Best-Performing Large City" rankings with many heading there from Silicon Valley. The remaining top five large cities include Austin, Raleigh and Palm Bay, Florida.
Other popular spots for Bay Area refugees are Denver, Seattle, Boise and Austin.
The report, first published in 1999, factors job and wage gains, along with high-tech GDP growth.
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