Gee, let us think.

A thread making the rounds among SF residents this week asked women approaching 40 — with and without partners — why they haven't had kids yet. The responses paint a picture that should surprise exactly no one who's ever looked at their rent statement and their savings account in the same sitting.

The original poster, who has a husband and still isn't sure about parenthood, mentioned that her OB-GYN suggested freezing embryos. She also noted that coworkers keep asking what she's "planning to do" and telling her "how much she's missing out." Classic.

Let's lay out the math that polite workplace conversation never seems to include. The median home price in San Francisco hovers around $1.3 million. Average childcare costs in the city run north of $2,000 a month — per kid. That's before food, clothes, activities, and the inevitable private school tuition because, well, have you seen SFUSD's enrollment numbers lately? We're not talking about a minor lifestyle adjustment. We're talking about a six-figure annual commitment in a city that already demands six figures just to tread water.

And yet the cultural pressure persists. Coworkers nudge. Family members hint. Society broadly treats childlessness past 35 as a problem to be solved rather than a decision — or even a rational economic calculation — to be respected.

Here's what the conversation should actually be about: San Francisco's regulatory environment, housing costs, and tax burden have made one of life's most fundamental choices feel financially reckless for a huge swath of residents. When a couple with two professional incomes in a major American city still has to agonize over whether they can afford a family, that's not a personal failing. That's a policy environment failing its people.

You want to boost the birth rate? Start by making it possible to raise a kid here without needing venture capital funding. Cut the red tape strangling housing construction. Stop treating every new development like a existential neighborhood crisis. Make the city livable for families, and families will come.

Until then, maybe stop asking your coworkers invasive questions at the coffee machine.