Children, Families Fleeing San Francisco: Study

San Francisco has the lowest percentage of children among its population of any major American city.

Why is that there are no kids with coloring books at Delfina? And where are all the playgrounds in San Francisco?

The reason is the same: children and the City don't mix. New stats show youngsters are getting out of town faster than those two gray whales that keep circling Alcatraz.

The city's population of people younger than 18 decreased by 5,278 people between 2000 and 2010, according to statistics released on Thursday.

There are children younger than 5 in San Francisco yet, but as soon as they reach school age, it's out to the 'burbs: 8,000 school-age youths left town during that time frame, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

While cities in general appear unfriendly to families as they struggle to find affordable housing, San Francisco is particularly so: only 13.4 percent of San Francisco's 805,235 residents are younger than 18, the smallest percentage of any major city in the country.

Compare that to San Jose's percentage of children which is 24.8 percent and Oakland's 21.3 percent.

Even the New York City borough of Manhattan has more kids than San Francisco, at 15 percent, according to the newspaper.

Kids never made up more than one-quarter of the populace, the newspaper reported: in 1970, children made up 22 percent of San Francisco. In 1960, they constituted 25 percent.

The numbers make for some nice quiet dinner options, but tend to spoil the craziness of Christmas morning.

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