16 Jul Role Reversal in Urban Dwellers

Recently, the Census released its 2013 population estimates, revealing whether key demographic groups – like millennials (20-34 year olds), boomers (50-69 year olds) – are moving to more suburban or urban areas.

Guess what: millennial population growth in large, dense cities actually fell far behind lower-density suburbs and smaller cities. Conversely, boomer growth in big, dense cities was just a hare under big-city suburbs, meaning it’s the boomers, millennials, who are starting to flock to big cities.

Interestingly, the top boomer-attracting cities tend to have relatively young populations. The correlation between a metro’s share of millennials and growth rate of boomers is 0.4, positive and statistically significant. That means that boomers increasingly want to be where millennials live already.

So the Census data shows that millennials are not driving urban growth and boomers are urbanizing, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect a long-term, permanent change in these demographic groups.

Do you think this trend will continue? Share by commenting below!