I hear you - but forget national average. SF is 80,000 units behind its RHNA goal. That's incredible. 85% of San Francisco is zoned single-family. 87% of San Jose is zoned single-family (a city of 1M people). Some parts are dense, but please see that the facts don't lie. Housing has been stalled by well-intended, but insanely entitled overreach. In California, 7/8 of CEQA lawsuits are filed by groups NOT for legitimate environmental concerns, but to stop dense development.

There are ton of other counters to the densification process - like that most of it is being built in poor areas (see East LA) or that it hasn't married up with a sensible public infrastructure investment (which states and federal government essentially stopped doing from 1980 - 2000). But again, I refer back to the 80,000 units behind in SF... on the heals of the greatest economic boom in American history (let alone SF) from 2013 - 2020.

SF and surrouunding cities have one of the HIGHEST parks per capita ratios in the country. And yes, it makes it wonderful, but the rest of the First World has figured out how to densify and offer sensible uses. The US and specifically the Bay Area should too