Illegal immigrants leaving San Francisco for cheaper pastures

By: Brent Begin | Examiner Staff Writer | 07/21/11 4:00 AM

As rental prices soared and families took flight over the past decade, thousands of undocumented immigrants have left San Francisco, a new study suggests.


The reason for the flight of undocumented immigrants from San Francisco is not immediately clear. (AP file photo)

Roughly 30,000 of San Francisco’s 809,000 residents are undocumented immigrants, according to a study from the Public Policy Institute of California. At just 3.7 percent of the population, that’s the lowest rate in any of the nine Bay Area counties.

Undocumented immigrants left San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties between 2001 and 2008. At the end of that period, the report suggests, there were 12,000 fewer undocumented immigrants in San Francisco, 9,000 fewer in San Mateo and 61,000 fewer in Santa Clara.

“My best guess: I think San Francisco is expensive, a lot of the Bay Area is,â€