Here are some statistics for San Francisco in 2020. It was a terrible year. Sometimes numbers help to put things in perspective.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the leisure and hospitality industries lost more than 46,000 jobs in the San Francisco metropolitan area, accounting for 43.6% of the employment reductions in that time.
Employment in clothing and accessory stores in the San Francisco area was down 40.8% year-over-year after a loss of more than 4,000 jobs. The budget legislative analyst estimates between 9.85% and 15% of all monthly retail rent in San Francisco has not been paid.
According to the city controller's office, San Francisco hotels' revenue per available room dropped from $227 in January to $30 in October, an 87% decline. Hotel tax revenue is down 79% for the fiscal year 2020.
Between January and December this year, small business revenues fell 56%, according to the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Since February, one in 12 jobs in San Francisco have been lost.
Zillow statistics highlighted the issue of people moving away. Housing inventory rose a whopping 96% year-over-year, as empty homes in the city flooded the market like nowhere else in America (granted in 2019, San Francisco had some of the lowest vacancy rates and highest home prices in the nation). At the end of 2020, more than three times as many apartments listed for rent in San Francisco than there were at the same time in 2019 and rents dropped about 25%.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in San Francisco for 2020: 22, 7776. Total Deaths 184. A record 621 people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco last year, a staggering number that far outpaced the deaths from COVID-19.
Behind these numbers are people. Real people with stories. People who have lost their jobs, who have moved away, who have lost others to drug overdoses or COVID-19. In my galleries I don’t feature people, but I think there are stories left behind there too - in their art, the city they helped build, in their day-to-day life in the City-by-the-Bay.
For me, 2020 was an opportunity to reset. I lost my job of 21 years at the end of 2019 - not knowing the challenges 2020 would bring. I miss being able to travel and take photographs of places I’ve never been before. But I have been exploring and taking lots of photographs of SF. More than anything, I miss my family and friends.
I am deeply concerned about what the global pandemic has done to people’s health and livelihoods and to the fair city where I live. But I do cherish the time I have with my wife. We are both healthy and working and optimistic about what the future will bring.
With that - HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here’s to 2021!