2013 Index
Highlights
Silicon Valley is experiencing a new wave of prosperity led by solid job growth. However, this prosperity is not shared by all residents and has not resolved the challenges that faced the region prior to the recession.
Some indicators have shown positive regional growth:
- Silicon Valley's quarterly employment increased four percent from Q2 2011 to Q2 2012, the highest annual growth in more than a decade.
- Monthly employment in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties grew from December 2011 to December 2012, adding 42,400 jobs. San Francisco created 15,900 jobs over the same period.
- The public sector continues to be squeezed, losing over 1,130 local government jobs from 2007 to Q2 2012.
- All major areas of economic activity, except for manufacturing and life sciences, increased employment from Q2 2011 to Q2 2012.
- The regional unemployment rate is 7 percent and rates have declined across all ethnicities since 2010, although ranging from six to ten percent.
- In 2011, nearly two thirds of Silicon Valley professionals with higher education working in science and engineering fields were born outside of the United States, a number more than twice the national average for similar professions and education levels (64 percent in Silicon Valley and 26 percent nationally).
- The educational level of residents in Silicon Valley was higher than in California overall across all ethnic groups in 2011. These rates increased from the prior year across all ethnic groups except African Americans and Hispanics.
- The number of full time arts and culture employees jumped eight percent in 2010 to 4,200.
- Silicon Valley has decreased its daily per capita waste disposal 36 percent since 1995, reporting a six percent drop over the past year.
- Electricity productivity improved 5.2 percent as per capita electricity consumption fell 2.5 percent.
- Transit ridership increased 1.3 percent in 2012 to 27.5 rides per capita.
- The San Francisco peninsula is increasingly integrated. Over a third of peninsula commuters live in Silicon Valley and work in San Francisco, while a quarter make the opposite commute.
Other indicators show a mixed message as pre-recession challenges remain:
- Reporting the third consecutive year of growth, real per capita income inched up 2.2 percent, and nears pre-recession levels.
- In contrast, median household income hit an 11-year low of $84,724 in 2011, while remaining 45 percent above the state.
- Income differs sharply by educational level, with median income for residents with graduate degrees five times higher than residents without a high school degree. Since 2009, median income has fallen for all educational levels except for those with graduate or professional degrees.
- The majority of ethnicities and races saw improved per capita income in 2011, except for African Americans and Hispanics whose per capita income fell 18 percent and five percent, respectively.
- Food stamp participation in the region exceeded a decade high of five percent, though it was less than half of the California average.
- The number of housing starts remains low, despite the strong job recovery.
- The percentage of affordable housing units fell to a 15-year low of two percent of new approved residential units.
- Average rents hit a historical high of $1,966 and a growing percentage of renters spend more than 35 percent of their income on rent.
- Residential foreclosures declined 41 percent from the first half of 2011 to the first half 2012.
- Home prices stabilized in 2012 at $671,926, as the number of home sales through Q2 2012 ticked up 12 percent from a year prior.
- The percentage of Silicon Valley homeowners with mortgages higher than the worth of their home was 19 percent in Q2 2012, though there was extensive variation between cities in the region, ranging from two to 37 percent.
- Total patent registrations ticked up, though they represent a smaller portion of total statewide patents.
- Silicon Valley venture capital investment fell 17 percent in 2012 and is more greatly concentrated in Software, which comprises 38 percent of total investment.
- In 2011, the amount of federal Small Business Innovation and Technology (SBIR/STTR) funding received by Silicon Valley small businesses increased 30 percent to nearly $91 million, though the number of awards fell.
- The number of small business loans grew faster than the total loan amount, suggesting that banks issued more small loans in 2011; the number of loans issued increased 16 percent, and total loan values rose five percent.
- Silicon Valley reached a five-year high of 17 initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2012, representing 52 percent of statewide IPOs and 15 percent nationally.
- Entrepreneurship has been constrained in recent years by lack of access to financing; however, a 90 percent growth in angel investments in 2012 suggests an improved investment environment.
- Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) dropped in 2012, but continued to comprise a growing portion of total statewide M&As.
- During the 2010-11 school year, high school dropout rates increased three percent to 14 percent, while graduation rates fell a percentage point to 87 percent. However, youth in Silicon Valley were more likely to be working or in school than their peers statewide; the region’s proportion of disconnected youth was four percent lower than in California overall.
- Juvenile felony drug offenses edged up to 152 offenses per 100,000 juveniles, and the number of substance abuse rehabilitation clients shot up 13 percent in 2010.
- For the first time in four years, the percentage of eighth graders scoring advanced on the Algebra I test fell. Proficiency levels also declined, falling three percent.
- Infant mortality rates subsided to a nearly two-decade low of 2.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.
- Of employed Silicon Valley residents between the ages of 18 and 64, 87 percent were covered by health insurance in 2011, compared to 78 percent statewide.
- Student obesity levels in Silicon Valley remained consistent at around 33 percent of the student population, while adult obesity rates have fluctuated. The proportion of the population that is overweight fell to 29.7 percent, while the obesity rate reached a decade high of 18.8 percent.
- Over a third of Silicon Valley residents between the ages of 53 and 64 provided care to a family member or friend in 2009.
Silicon Valley has been adding jobs.
