New York and San Francisco Can’t Assume They’ll Bounce Back: Noah Smith

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Big cities are taking a big hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Statistics from employment search giant Indeed show that major U.S. metropolitan areas have lost a larger percentage of jobs, and have experienced greater rises in unemployment, than smaller metros. Especially hard-hit have been so-called superstar cities such as San Francisco, New York and Seattle:

Housing markets tell the same story. Rents in superstar cities have plunged, often by double-digit percentages. This is due in part to the reduced ability of residents to pay, but also because of wealthy people fleeing cities like San Francisco and Manhattan for (literally) greener pastures.

Much of this, of course, is due to the pandemic itself. The well-off decamping for safety of the countryside to escape disease is nothing new -- accounts written centuries ago describe a similar phenomenon. Though studies show that overcrowded living conditions rather than population density is the culprit for the disease’s spread but some would rather be safe than sorry. Covid-19 has also forced or allowed many white-collar workers to do their jobs