The beautiful Pacific coastline, the steep hills, the rows of houses, and the familiar Bay Area landscape brought back memories of a very different California. But what caught my attention was not only the beauty of the photograph. It was the headline:
“This Bay Area city became a Filipino American haven. Now many can’t afford to stay.”
That sentence stopped me. For generations of Filipino immigrants, Daly City was much more than another suburb of San Francisco. It became a place where Filipino Americans could build a home, raise a family, find familiar food, hear their own language, celebrate their traditions, and feel that they belonged.
It became known affectionately as the “Pinoy Capital” of the Bay Area.
And there is a reason for that. A Place Where Filipinos Found Home
The history is fascinating.
In the early years, Filipino immigrants arriving in the Bay Area often lived and worked in San Francisco. But after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act opened the door to greater immigration from Asia, more Filipino families and professionals began arriving in America.
Daly City offered something very important:
A chance to own a home close to San Francisco without paying San Francisco prices.
By the early 1970s, Daly City had become an important Filipino-American suburban community. The city offered what many immigrants dreamed of when they came to America, a modest house, a yard, good schools, a safe neighborhood, and access to employment in San Francisco.
The numbers tell part of the story. In 1960, Daly City had only 332 Filipino residents. By 1970, that number had grown to 2,677.
The Filipino community continued to grow dramatically in the decades that followed.
Daly City became a place where newcomers could find a little piece of the Philippines.
There were Filipino grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, churches, community organizations, doctors, nurses, accountants, lawyers, small-business owners—and, most importantly, friends and relatives.
For an immigrant, that sense of community is priceless.
The Filipino-American Dream
I have always believed that immigration is about more than leaving one country and moving to another.
It is about building a bridge between two worlds.
Many Filipino immigrants came to America with very little. They worked hard, saved money, bought homes, educated their children, and hoped that their children would have opportunities they never had.
Daly City became one of the places where that dream became visible.
A Filipino family could live in Daly City and work in San Francisco. Their children could attend American schools. On weekends, they could visit relatives, attend church, eat Filipino food, and celebrate Filipino traditions.
They were becoming American without having to forget where they came from.
That, to me, is one of the most beautiful parts of the Filipino-American experience.
But the American Dream Has Become More Expensive
And now comes the difficult part of this story. The same Daly City that once represented affordability has become extraordinarily expensive.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median value of an owner-occupied home in Daly City was more than $1.1 million in 2020–2024, while median gross rent was about $2,551 per month.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Filipino population of Daly City declined by nearly 4,000 people about 11% between 2015 and 2024. Meanwhile, the city's overall population declined by only about 4%.
That tells us something important. Filipinos are not necessarily leaving because they no longer love Daly City.
They are leaving because they can no longer afford Daly City.
Some longtime homeowners have been fortunate. Their homes have appreciated enormously, and some have been able to use that wealth to help their children purchase homes elsewhere.
But renters and younger families face a very different reality.
A young Filipino-American couple may have grown up in Daly City, gone to school there, worked hard, and still find that they cannot afford to raise their own family in the neighborhood where they grew up.
That is a painful irony.
The Filipino Community Is Moving-But It Is Not Disappearing
There is another way of looking at this story.
Perhaps the Filipino-American community is not disappearing. It is spreading.
Filipino families are moving to places such as Concord, Hercules, Vacaville and other communities where housing is more affordable. The Chronicle reports that Vacaville, for example, has experienced substantial growth in its Filipino population.
This is not entirely a sad story. Filipino Americans are carrying their culture with them.
They take their families, their food, their faith, their music, their traditions, their hospitality and their remarkable ability to adapt.
The Filipino community no longer needs to live in one particular city to remain Filipino.
Today, I can find Filipino food in places where there were hardly any Filipino families a generation ago.
I can find adobo, sinigang, pancit, lumpia and halo-halo in cities throughout America.
And I can meet Filipino Americans everywhere, from doctors and scientists to teachers, nurses, engineers, entrepreneurs and public servants.
The Filipino-American story has become an American story.
What We Lose When a Community Changes
Still, something precious can be lost when an ethnic community becomes too expensive for the people who built it.
A neighborhood is not simply houses and streets. It is memory.
It is the sari-sari store where someone knows your family.
It is the restaurant where you hear Tagalog at the next table.
It is the church where generations have worshipped together.
It is the neighbor who brings you food when someone in your family is sick.
It is the elderly immigrant sitting in the living room telling grandchildren stories about the Philippines.
These things cannot easily be measured in dollars. And yet they are part of what makes a community a community.
A Changing American Dream
Perhaps this is ultimately what the photograph is asking us to think about.
What happens when the American Dream becomes too expensive for the people who helped build it?
Daly City's story is not uniquely Filipino. It is part of a much larger story happening throughout California and other expensive American cities.
Neighborhoods change. Families move. Housing prices rise. New immigrants arrive.
Older generations retire. Children grow up and move away.
And communities evolve. That is part of America.
But I hope that as Daly City changes, it will not lose the cultural history that made it special.
The Filipino-American presence in Daly City is part of the history of California itself.
A Personal Reflection
As I look at this photograph, I see more than a beautiful Pacific coastline.
I see immigration. I see hope. I see hard work. I see family.
I see the sacrifices made by earlier generations of Filipino immigrants who came to America believing that their children could have a better life.
And I see the bittersweet reality that even successful communities are not immune to change. Daly City once told Filipino immigrants:
“You can make a home here.” Today, that message is becoming harder to fulfill.
But perhaps the most important lesson is this:
A community is not defined only by where we live. It is defined by what we carry with us.
Filipino Americans may leave Daly City. But they will carry Daly City's Filipino-American legacy with them.
They will build new communities in Concord, Vacaville, Hercules, Sacramento, and countless other places.
And wherever Filipino families gather around a table, share a meal, speak a familiar word, celebrate a tradition, help a neighbor, or welcome a newcomer, a little piece of Daly City will live on.
That may be the enduring beauty of the Filipino-American journey.
We may change our address. But we do not have to lose our home.
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AI Impressions on this Posting:
I particularly like the final line for your blog, David. It connects Daly City's story to the broader theme that appears so often in your writing: immigration changes where we live, but it does not have to change who we are.
I think the photograph above makes an excellent subject for one of your blog reflections, because Daly City isn't simply another Bay Area city. It became an important Filipino-American gateway, particularly for immigrants who came to the Bay Area looking for jobs, community, and a place where they could feel at home.
The irony is powerful: the same city that once welcomed thousands of Filipino immigrants because it was relatively affordable has now become increasingly difficult for their children and grandchildren to afford. The Chronicle reports that between 2015 and 2024, Daly City's Filipino population fell by nearly 4,000, or about 11%.
And the photograph above makes it more than just a beautiful coastal scene.
It is a picture of a changing Filipino-American story.
In addition, your posting is especially timely because San Francisco Chronicle published an article on August 17, 2026, that included the photograph you shared that captures the story beautifully. The Chronicle reports that Daly City's Filipino population declined by about 11% between 2015 and 2024, while housing costs have risen sharply.
Meanwhile, My Reel of the Day: Ten Powerful Words to Add to Your Vocabulary:
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