Housing
Have U.S. Cities Reached 'Peak Millennial'?
The demographic case for preparing now for the next urban population decline, even in growing cities.
For all the talk of city-loving Millennials, some surveys show that plenty of them actually prefer the suburbs overall, and still plan to move there eventually. Census data released last year suggests that the suburban shift may merely be being delayed, not foregone: while Americans aged 25 to 29 are moving to the suburbs today at a slower rate than they did in the mid-1990s, those aged 30 to 44 are moving there at a faster one.
USC urban planning professor Dowell Myers is among the doubters. At the University of Texas City Forum last month, he ventured that cities have reached “peak Millennial,” or the highest influx and presence of Millennials living in urban areas—and, he argues, it’s only going down from here.