OAKLAND, Calif., March 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Did you know that
the Bay Area outpaced every one of the other Top 10 U.S. metro
areas except Houston for job
growth from 2010 through 2013? Or that more new housing units were
permitted in San Francisco than in
any other Bay Area city during these years? These are just some of
the facts revealed today as the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission (MTC) expanded its two-month-old Vital Signs website
(www.vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov) to include a Land and People
section with information on the region's population, jobs, housing
growth and greenfield development.
The addition of the Land and People section marks the second
phase of MTC's four-part Vital Signs
initiative. Visitors can consult the interactive website to track
the Bay Area's progress toward reaching key transportation, land
use, environmental and economic policy goals, as well as to learn
about historical trends, differences and similarities among the
region's communities, and how the nine-county Bay Area stacks up
with other major U.S. metro areas. Phase 1, which debuted in
January 2015, examines 14 different
indicators by which the health of the Bay Area's transportation
systems can be monitored. Data for Phase 3, which will focus on the
region's economy, is due for release later this spring. The fourth
and final phase will be unveiled this summer and will examine
environmental and safety data.
Dave Vautin, MTC's Vital Signs project manager, says the website
was designed to provide both access to data and a unique online
experience. "This information is not just useful to researchers but
genuinely interesting to the public at large. We've worked hard to
develop customizable charts and maps, combined with high-quality
graphics, that will allow all Bay Area residents to better
understand what's happening in their county, city and
neighborhood."
Among the key findings in the second set of Vital Signs data is the emergence of the Silicon
Valley as the Bay Area's undisputed employment capital. Though 2013
employment figures indicate there were still far more jobs in
San Francisco (608,600) than in
any other Bay Area city, the combination of jobs in San Jose (396,300) and other northern
Santa Clara County cities
(410,300) tops San Francisco by
nearly a third. No other regional submarket even comes close to
San Francisco or Silicon Valley.
Northern Alameda County — which
includes Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville and other cities — ranked number
four on the 2013 Bay Area list with 314,600 jobs.
The new Vital Signs data also
show that despite the Bay Area's economic resurgence, the region is
growing at a much slower pace than it did in the 20th
century. "Average population and housing growth through the 1960s,
1970s and 1980s was about double the rate of the 2000s and 2010s,"
commented Vautin, who also observed that only in the past few years
have the cities that ring San Francisco Bay seen more housing
construction than outlying communities.
"This may signal the start of a shift away from the
suburbanization trend that dominated the post-World War II era,"
noted Vautin, "but it also reflects decades of environmental
awareness in the region. Going back to the 1930s, vast sections of
the Bay Area have been protected from development. So the inventory
of land available for residential or commercial construction has
been steadily shrinking. One result is that, in recent years,
sprawl has been limited to very specific areas such as the Highway
4 corridor in eastern Contra Costa County. This is a stark
contrast to the development patterns in metro areas such as
Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston."
The comparative strength of housing activity in the inner Bay
Area coincides with a growing trend toward multifamily construction
that began around the mid-2000s. Apartments, condominiums and
townhomes consistently have accounted for more than half the
housing construction permits issued regionwide over the past
decade. By 2013, seven of the nine Bay Area counties — all except
Contra Costa and Solano — permitted a higher share of
multifamily units than single-family homes. Yet regional
housing production continues to lag far behind the nation's other
large and economically vibrant metro areas.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating
agency for the nine-county San Francisco
Bay Area.
Logo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140801/132756
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-data-on-mtc-website-identifies-trends-affecting-bay-area-land-and-people-300057733.html
SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission