San Francisco population still below 2020 levels, census data shows

San Francisco’s population has not recovered since the pandemic exodus, according to a new report. 

“San Francisco metro area’s population failed to grow again in 2025, despite a swelling boom in AI,” The San Francisco Chronicle reported in March. “Unlike in almost every other major metro in the country, that’s left the region’s total population well below its 2020 level, according to newly released U.S. census estimates.”

“The number of residents in the San Francisco metropolitan area, which also includes the East Bay, Peninsula and Marin County, was still 2.6% lower in July 2025 than it was in April 2020, the most recent metro-level data show,” the report continued. “Among metro areas with more than 1.5 million residents, that population loss is outpaced only by Los Angeles, which was down 2.7%.”

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People sit in Alamo Square overlooking the city skyline in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 26, 2020. San Francisco’s population has not recovered since the pandemic exodus, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The city has been plagued by rampant homelessness, surging crime, and skyrocketing costs of living for the past several years. Former residents have explained that they found a better quality and cost of living outside the Bay Area, where homelessness and housing prices have skyrocketed.

The city is trying to make a comeback with a shift in its political landscape after moderates ousted progressives out of leadership. 

The effort of moderates caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who praised Mayor Daniel Lurie for his work in turning the city back around.

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President Donald Trump praised San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday for “really trying” to improve the city after moderates took over leadership. (Getty Images)

The city elected Lurie in 2024, defeating incumbent Democrat London Breed in a shift away from lenient policies on crime, drugs and homelessness that critics say contributed to the city’s decline.

Moderate Democrats in San Francisco are pushing back against progressive candidates, fearing local left-wing politicians could undo the work done over the past four years after a surge in the city’s homelessness and crime.

“Still, it’s not as though the Bay Area’s population has been in free fall since the pandemic,” the Chronicle reported. “After hitting a low in 2022, the population growth in both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas has generally leveled off, even creeping up slightly. Likewise, Los Angeles’ population change has generally leveled off around its lowest point.” 

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Homeless people are seen as the city combats fentanyl use in San Francisco, California, United States on May 16, 2024. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Neighbors for a Better San Francisco raised $10 million to pour into local elections to stop progressives from being re-elected and knocking the city “off its more centrist course,” according to a Politico report last month.