Is the gaybourhood unravelling?

If US census data is any indication, the number of same-sex couples in uber-pricey San Francisco — where a cramped, dumpy studio on skid row is considered a bargain at $1,500 — dropped by about five percent in the first five years of this millennium.

Of course queers weren't the only ones packing their bags.

But for every straight couple fleeing the city, more than twice as many queer couples made a beeline for the 'burbs. Many of them set up housekeeping in San Jose, Berkeley and Oakland, whose gay populations jumped by 34, 14 and eight percent respectively.

Merchants too are feeling the pinch as rents go up and up. There has been a high turnover of Castro businesses in recent years.

But it's not just San Francisco.

Gaybourhoods everywhere are changing.

In large cities across the United States, GLBT populations are shifting away from gay urban villages [GUVs] into the suburbs, the outskirts, and beyond.

Chicago's gay community continues to move steadily north from its original location near the downtown core. And it costs a pretty penny to hang your hat in Chelsea and Greenwich Village, New York's original gay enclaves.

Read the rest in xtra west.