Urban Growth: Rising housing prices are pushing residents out of San Francisco

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It has a mild sunny climate all year round and its economy has been booming due to tech. But a recent survey showed that nearly half of respondents would like to move out of California's San Francisco Bay Area within the next few years. Mark Niu takes a look at why many residents aren't happy and where they're going.

A Bay Area Council poll found that 46-percent of San Francisco Bay Area voters are ready to leave within the next few years. That's up 12-percent from two years ago.

PETER LEROE-MUZ, V.P. INNOVATION, SILICON VALLEY LEADERSHIP GROUP "It's a quality of life issue. It's around housing affordability. It's also a quality of life issue around transportation. We face some of the worst traffic in the country."

The idea of moving out of the area crosses Christina Hagan's mind often. Married with two kids, she rents this two-bedroom apartment for $3,300 dollars a month in the suburb of Sunnyvale, in Silicon Valley.

CHRISTINA HAGAN, RESIDENT SILICON VALLEY "I think about it all the time because I have so many friends that are leaving. And especially with social media, people are always posting we got a house here, or my friends who do live in different states, anyone wanna come here and live in a massive five bedroom mansion. It's only $314,000."

In Sunnyvale, we found this five bedroom home listed at $2.8 million. And in a neighborhood with barred windows and stray shopping carts, this three bedroom home was listed at $1.4 million. Many Bay Area residents are deciding to move two hours North to California's capital city - Sacramento.

MARK NIU SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA "And it's a far better deal in Sacramento. I'm here in the Ice Blocks project, which is in a very trendy Mid-town area. Here you can get a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment for around $2,400. It's brand new, with all these appliances."

TAYLOR ALLEN, COMMUNITY MANAGER ICE BLOCKS "We are seeing a lot of people migrate from the Bay Area. You can travel eight miles in the Bay Area and take you upwards of an hour, which I've experienced. But here, you're gaining that time back."

Our first stop to see the cost of buying this 3-bedroom house in Sacramento - 365-thousand dollars.

MARISHA SCHUMACHER-HODGE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER "I'm currently renting right now, but my goal would be in a couple of years to try to buy a home."

Bay Area transplant Marisha works for the startup Fantag, which helps users share video moments at live events, especially sports. The startup moved out of Silicon Valley last year to come to Sacramento, where it quickly grew from three to 16 employees.

BRIAN DOMBROWSKI, FOUNDER FANTAG "I think it's just an added layer of complexity when you have so many other variables your hires need to worry about. Where they are going to live, how they are gonna get to work. Maybe some of the costs that has on them personally, to be up here knowing it's much more manageable."

In the San Francisco Bay Area, unemployment is actually at record lows. But it's not enough to stamp out the pessimism, with only 25-percent of voters surveyed saying the Bay Area is headed in the right direction. Mark Niu, CGTN, Sunnyvale, California.