Nine of the ten most NIMBY US cities are in the SF Bay Area

Jun 5

High housing prices in the San Francisco Bay Area might have something to do with the fact that a survey of 562 municipalities across the USA, concluded that nine of the ten most NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) are in that region. The jurisdictions all had a population of 75,000 or more.

The following images are screenshots taken from a video presentation of the analysis entitled The Nimby Awards created and posted by CityNerd (Ray Delahanty) on June 1, 2024. The video may be accessed at https://nebula.tv/videos/citynerd-these-are-the-nimbyest-cities-in-the-us.

Scroll down for characteristics of NIMBY cities, the index (called NIMdex) used to select the municipalities and some key facts about: #1 Sunnyvale, CA, #2, Redwood City, CA, #3 Union City, CA, #4, Fremont, CA, #5 San Mateo, CA, #6 Hayward, CA, #7 San Jose, CA, #8 San Leandro, CA, and #10 Livermore, CA. NOTE: ZHVI = Zillow Home Value Index.

H. Pike Oliver, FAICP

H. Pike Oliver focuses on master-planned communities. He is a co-author of Transforming the Irvine Ranch: Joan Irvine, William Pereira, Ray Watson, and THE BIG PLAN, published by Routledge in 2022, and The Irvine Ranch, FULFILLING THE VISION, published by Routledge in 2026.

Early in his career, Pike worked for public agencies, including the California Governor's Office of Planning and Research, where he was a principal contributor to An Urban Strategy for California. For the next three decades, he worked on master-planned development at the Irvine Ranch in Southern California, as well as on other properties in western North America and abroad.

Beginning in 2009, Pike taught real estate development at Cornell University and directed the undergraduate program in Urban and Regional Studies. He relocated to Seattle in 2013 and, from 2016 to 2020, served as a lecturer in the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington, where he also served as its chair.

Pike graduated from San Francisco State University's urban studies and planning program and received a master's degree in urban planning from UCLA. He is a member of the American Planning Association, the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the Urban Land Institute, and a founder and emeritus member of the California Planning Roundtable.

https://urbanexus.com/

Nine of the ten most NIMBY US cities are in the SF Bay Area

Notes about economic growth

ARES Urbanexus Update #163