Why Children Are Disappearing From This Bay Area City: Report

HEALDSBURG, CA — The number of young residents is dwindling in a small Sonoma County town, according to a new report from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Amid rising living costs, a shortage of affordable housing, declining school enrollment and skyrocketing home prices, data reviewed by the newspaper shows that many families have been priced out of Healdsburg.

According to census data analyzed by the Chronicle, between 2009 and 2023, the share of Healdsburg residents who are under 18 sunk from 25 to 17 percent.

In 2019, a community-commissioned report warned that rising home prices were aging the population, as younger families could no longer afford to buy in. The result, it said, was that more and more of Healdsburg’s children and workers were being shut out of both homeownership and long-term residency. The report referred to this growing imbalance as a “demographic bomb.”

“Unfortunately, the situation is only going to get worse, far worse,” the report said. “This wonderful place will not be a place to live for many, if not the majority, of existing residents and their children.”

Although the share of children is declining across the Bay Area, the idyllic city, known for its rolling green hills, vineyards, and luxury wineries, is experiencing a sharper drop than anywhere else.

Council Member Ariel Kelley told the newspaper that the trend is alarming.

“It's an amazing town with a big heart, but the demographic bomb is worrisome, and we're not doing much to be able to course-correct on it,” Kelley said. “I just wish we had more kids and more families, and we were able to see the ability to move in a different direction.”

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Demographic bomb’: Children are vanishing from this wealthy Bay Area city