Companies Are Abandoning Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley may no longer be the technological mecca that it was once pre-pandemic.

As companies large and small pivot to remote working arrangements and migrate to cities with a lower cost of living, Silicon Valley has been described as a “ghost town” in recent months.

Even prior to the pandemic, some of the region’s biggest successes like InVision and Automattic turned to telework arrangements. 

Now, companies like Facebook and Twitter have also fully embraced remote working and are unlikely to turn back.

Not only are these organizations downsizing their presence in Silicon Valley, some are uprooting and moving their headquarters to cities with lower costs of operation.

“California’s population and job growth have both slowed to a trickle, with many citing concerns about high taxes, cost of living and heavy regulations,” said Katie Schoolov, who covers the state of big tech for CNBC Make It. “With the rise of remote work in 2020, over 135,000 more people left California than moved in — the third largest net migration loss ever recorded for the state.”