As rising costs and crime add to challenges in cities across the country, a new index analyses which metro areas are making living more manageable and which are suppressing growth with heavy taxes and regulations.
Released by the Pacific Research Institute, The Free Cities Index: A Pro-Growth Ranking of the 50 Largest Cities, found four of the bottom six cities are in California – San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Long Beach.
Each of them scored poorly across almost every index category, Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics and the index author, told the Northern California Record by email. “They levy high taxes, burdensome regulations, an anti-business environment, respond poorly to addressing the homelessness issue, and do not provide residents with a high quality of life,” Winegarden said. “While most of the bottom ranked cities had one category where they perform well, this category tends to vary by city.”
Winegarden
| https://pacificresearch.org
The bottom-ranking California cities had several poor practices in common – in part because anti-competitive state policies apply – besides high taxes, these include strict zoning laws, an anti-growth business environment, and expensive workers compensation costs, Winegarden said.
“They also include a growing number of unhoused residents in so many California cities,” he added.
California has about 30 percent of the nation’s homeless population. The index looks at how that factor can impact a city’s growth potential.
“In addition to the harm homelessness inflicts on those who are experiencing it, a large and growing homeless problem reduces quality of life, increases violence, increases theft, and harms the ability of businesses (large and small) to thrive,” Winegarden said. “From a broader perspective, when the homelessness problem reaches the level it has in so many cities in California, it discourages people from living there, drives away conventions and other large events from choosing California, and encourages business flight. All of these impacts harm the growth potential of California's cities.”
Growth is essential for continued prosperity, Winegarden noted, and by fostering a vibrant economy, local leaders help improve the standard of living for families and continue to provide the public services essential for a city to thrive.
“The consequences a city experiences once growth stagnates is exemplified by the turmoils of Detroit; the infrastructure degrades, poverty rises, and the ability of the city to operate becomes jeopardized,” Winegarden said.
Of the 50 cities in the index, San Francisco has experienced the biggest population drop. Its rate of decline is almost double San Jose’s, which is also near the bottom.
The crime crackdown that Mayor London Breed has called for hasn’t yet worked.
“San Francisco faces unique obstacles that are driving the huge population exodus including the out-of-control homelessness, unaffordable housing, and decline in public safety,” Winegarden said. “As these problems are much worse in San Francisco, it is not surprising that the exodus from the city is significantly larger as well.”
Meanwhile more Californians are voting with their feet by going to cities that provide an affordable cost of living, high quality of life, and strong city amenities, Winegarden said.
“Cities that provide these attributes attract businesses and families. The cities that fail to provide these core benefits lose businesses and families," he said.