This isn't just vibes. It's structural. San Francisco rents have rebounded aggressively post-pandemic while salaries in tech — once the great equalizer — have flattened or disappeared entirely thanks to rolling layoffs and AI-driven workforce anxiety. The people who were supposed to be hitting their stride right now are instead refreshing their inboxes with dread.

As one SF resident put it bluntly: "Been laid off 3x since 2020. It's never ending."

And look, this isn't exclusively a San Francisco problem. Another local noted, "Lots of people all over the country are choosing between groceries or gas. It's grim everywhere." Fair point. But SF has a special talent for compounding national economic stress with eye-watering local costs. A $3,200 one-bedroom doesn't care about your severance timeline.

What frustrates us at The Dissent is that City Hall's response to affordability has been more bureaucracy, more fees on development, and more process — the exact opposite of what would actually bring housing costs down. Every dollar the city spends on another commission or consultant is a dollar that isn't reducing the regulatory burden that keeps housing scarce and rents astronomical. You want people to start families here? Let builders build. You want economic resilience? Stop taxing businesses into relocation.

The generation that was told the knowledge economy would be their golden ticket is finding out that no amount of individual hustle can outrun bad policy. San Francisco doesn't have a talent problem. It has a governance problem. And until that changes, the city's 30-somethings will keep doing the rational thing: treading water, delaying life milestones, and eyeing the exit.

That's not a lifestyle choice. That's a policy failure.