14-07-2025
- General
- San Francisco Chronicle
We're expanding our coverage of aging in the Bay Area
The Chronicle launched a series today about what may become the most important force to shape life in the U.S. in the years ahead.
It's not an issue that you've seen scrawled across headlines and social media, like crime, homelessness, immigration or artificial intelligence (though it intersects with some of those).
The 'doom loop'?
No. Well, not the one you're likely thinking of, anyway.
America is getting older fast, and experts say the rapid-aging trend is about to shift into overdrive. The ramifications of older demographics will rip through every part of society, placing unprecedented demands on housing, health care, education and social services.
As explained in the story we published today, this trend could be particularly pronounced in the Bay Area. 'Fueled by a pandemic-spurred exodus of young people and laws that motivate homeowners to stay, the region has aged faster over the past half-decade than any other major metro area,' write data editor Dan Kopf and reporter Roland Li.
The series was born when conversations in our newsroom about how the Bay Area was changing couldn't escape the gravity of this region's aging data. When Kopf and Transformation Editor Robert Morast would meet to forecast the future of San Francisco and the region, they kept returning to this massive demographic shift. It's been happening slowly, over decades, almost unnoticed, then accelerated during the pandemic, as many younger workers and families migrated out of the region. Seen as a whole, it pointed to undeniable effects on the region's economy, housing and cultural systems. And those changes aren't just happening here. The Bay Area may be the first crest of a massive wave that's about to wash over the entire nation.
In one neighborhood where the median age is 55, homeowners distilled their outlook on their homes to the same six words: 'Carry me out in a coffin.' But some report the once-vibrant area is now sleepy, less diverse, a shadow of its former self. And it faces hard questions about the local economy and what comes next. (To read our story about this neighborhood as soon as it publishes, check out our Morning Fix newsletter on Tuesday.)
We'll be publishing a new story every day this week on the aging of the Bay Area.
Today, we're jumping into the data that shows what areas in the region have aged the most and how San Francisco stacks up against other major cities. There's lots more to come.
And our coverage won't stop there: Two reporters in our newsroom, Erin Allday and Catherine Ho, have already begun covering not only the impacts of this demographic shift, but also issues that we hope will be especially relevant for an aging population.
Allday and Ho are both longtime reporters on the health beat at the Chronicle, writing about everything from research at the Bay Area's cutting-edge medical institutions and biotech companies to government policy to medical industry news to practical health and wellness tips. They plan to leverage their experience and sourcing to provide comprehensive coverage on aging in our region. We hope you'll keep following this important topic with us, and let us know what you'd like to see. You can track all of our coverage here.
