"College Graduates Face Tough Choices in Coastal Cities"

College-educated workers are leaving expensive coastal cities like San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C., in growing numbers, creating an accelerating outflow of educated workers that economists call "brain drain." The pandemic has accelerated this trend, with the San Francisco area losing more educated workers than have moved in. Affordability issues have been eroding up the income spectrum in the country's most expensive metros, and remote work has altered the bargain that educated workers must swallow high living costs to access the highest wages. These workers are increasingly migrating toward major metros that are still prosperous but not quite so expensive.