You can’t keep the city by the bay down. While Elon Musk still thinks it’s still an apocalyptic wasteland, San Francisco is definitely back on the hot list. San Francisco’s comeback is real — or at least starting to look that way. After years of “doom loop” headlines about empty towers, crime, and tech flight, the city is flashing signals of revival.
Crime is down. Burglaries have fallen nearly 30% this year. Rents are up double digits, marking more than a year of steady increases. Downtown foot traffic is rising, cafés are full again, and new AI firms are quietly moving in.
The biggest driver: artificial intelligence. OpenAI, Anthropic, and a cluster of startups are re-anchoring the city’s economy. After a pandemic that scattered tech talent across the country, the next wave of founders seems to prefer proximity — and San Francisco’s density of capital, culture, and caffeine is hard to replicate.
I don’t think you can ignore the effort and enthusiasm of Mayor Daniel Lurie either. His instagram is filled with boosterism – every new restaurant and bodega makes his update. His efforts to remove homeless in the Tenderloin compassionately (he is a Democrat after all) is starting to clean up the place without much pushback.
The scars remain. Vacancies are high, retail corridors patchy, and homelessness unsolved. But the mood feels different — less resignation, more forward motion.
Even the tone has shifted. Landlords are repurposing empty offices into labs and flexible event spaces. City officials are easing permits. Investors are starting to say it out loud: SF might be investable again.
