Bay Area expats are not being welcomed in Washington and Oregon

Seattle may be cheaper,
but not more welcoming, according to some Bay Area
transplants.
Piyoros
C/Shutterstock

• Californians who move to Seattle and Portland are
  facing backlash from locals, reports SF Gate.
• Residents are seemingly threatened by a
  “Californiacation” of the Pacific Northwest, in which home
  prices surge and traffic worsens, among other
  things.
• Some transplants reported seeing “F— California”
  or “California sucks” graffiti, while others have
  been verbally derided by locals.

---

A growing number of Californians are leaving the Golden State
behind in search of cheaper living in Washington and Oregon — and
locals aren’t very happy about it.

A recent
story from SF Gate highlighted how some Bay Area expats who
relocated to Seattle, Portland, and Boise, Idaho, are
experiencing unwelcoming gestures from locals.

“Bay Area expats we talked to say they’ve faced a range of
backlash, from harmless jokes to threats of violence. One couple
who transplanted to Portland in 2017 found their car and home spray-painted
with messages like ‘Go back to California,'” wrote
SF Gate reporter Alix Martichoux.

A June survey from the Bay Area
Council advocacy group found
that 46% of residents say they plan to move
away soon, up from 40% last year and 35%
in 2016,
reported Business Insider’s Leanna Garfield. Home prices
are a huge factor.

Nearly 60% of Bay Area tech workers surveyed from companies
like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Salesforce said they

cannot afford to purchase a house there, reported
Business Insider’s Melia Robinson. 
That’s not
to say they’re leaving their jobs — more and more companies are
increasingly offering remote work
options. 

Seattle and Portland are the top two destinations for Bay Area
transplants, according to data from LinkedIn. 

“If you think of all these cities and just think, literally,
‘What is the closest substitute to the Bay Area at a slightly
lower cost?’ Seattle tops the list,” Guy Berger, an economist who
works at LinkedIn,
previously told Robinson. 

Read more:
The San Francisco housing market
is so dire that people are leaving in droves — here’s where
they’re headed

Some California transplants told SF Gate that locals are
seemingly threatened by a “Californiacation” of the Pacific
Northwest. Many claim California expats are bringing more traffic
(and thus more air pollution) and driving up home prices, among
other things.

A Boise native who lived in the Bay Area for 10 years
recently moved back to Idaho and said locals
yelled “They’re coming! They’re gonna buy it!” at her
while she was viewing an “overpriced open house,” reported SF
Gate.

“We were in our car and we still have our California plates.
They’re happy to be more aggressive when you have California
plates. We really need to get rid of these plates,” she told
SF Gate.

A 25-year-old Bay Area native who relocated to Vancouver,
Washington, last year told SF Gate that while the people are
“very nice and won’t say anything directly to our faces,” her and
her husband have seen “F— California” and “California sucks”
graffiti around town.

Though it may seem a bad trade-off to some, home prices
in Seattle and
Portland are
a steal compared to the Bay Area, where the median home price has
cracked $1 million and it’s officially a better long-term deal to rent
than become a homeowner.

A man who left Los Angeles, another overpriced California city,
for Portland 40 years ago told SF Gate he’s observed the impact
of new residents to the city and it’s eroding the character of
the area: “Portland is becoming all I didn’t like
about LA.”