Gen Z is Coming to San Francisco in Droves
We Millennials are clutching onto our Allbirds and avocado toasts
Photo: Getty Images/photoquest7
ace a cohort, Gen Z has now surpassed millennials as the largest generation, making up 32% of the global population. Though the oldest “Zoomers” are now just twenty-four years young, they still represent a relatively small portion of the US workforce; only 11.6% of them were employed in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2030, however, 74% of the global workforce will be comprised of Millennials and Gen Z workers — far outnumbering Gen Xers and their Boomer-aged peers, especially in technology and media sectors.
The change is coming; the shift is looming. And for us in San Francisco, the “Zoomer Wave” is coming quicker than in any other large American city, if we were to take apartment rental applications as any indication.
In a report issued by the nation-wide rent listing service RentCafe, the number of Zoomer-aged apartment seekers in San Francisco doubled between 2020 and 2021. Per the online aggregator, San Francisco saw by far the most activity in the nation when it came to interest from young renters during that previously mentioned time.
“Nationwide, the number of applications for apartments from renters of all generations increased by an average of 10% year over year, from 2.9 million applications in 2020 to 3.2 million in 2021,” reads the report from the listing service. “The increase in activity was mainly driven by the youngest renter group, the oldest of whom are 25 years old.”
Moreover: Zoomers were the only generation to record an increase in renting activity in 2021. Of the millions of applications received through RentCafe, it logged a massive 101% YoY increase in the share of rental applications coming from Gen Zers looking for apartments in San Francisco . (The slice of the pie occupied by Gen Z rental applications submitted through RentCafe for San Francisco went from 11% to over 21% between 2020 and 2021, for context.)
By comparison, East Coast metropolises like Manhattan and Brooklyn saw around a 60% increase in rental applications from the same age cohort. And as for which city nabbed the number one trendiest spot to live for Generation Z, according to the study? san francisco
Elsewhere in the Bay Area is also seeing a tremendous uptick in rental interest from Zoomers. San Jose showed a significant YoY jump of 52% in RentCafe’s share of Zoomer-aged rental applications, going up from 12% to 18% over the past year — neck and neck with Seattle.
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Regarding our meme-able affinity for avocado toast—a generational trope waxed by Boomers to comment on Millenial spending habits, nevermind the fact that we’re among the poorest generations ever due to financial factors outside our realms of control— it looks like a staple food source for monounsaturated fats and slow-burning carbs is safe among us thirty-somethings. Well… assuming it doesn’t enjoy the same TikTok fame as these twice-fried tater tots.
