Housing
What U.S. Population Trends From the 2000s Tell Us About the Future
The metro areas that saw the greatest slowdown in the previous decades were the ones that saw the biggest booms in the 1990s.
Urban populations in U.S. cities boomed in the 1960s, but then declined throughout the '70s and rose only slightly in the '80s. The 1990s then saw a huge increase in metropolitan population, especially in the Sun Belt. Both suburban areas and large cities experienced major increases in population throughout this decade, which seemed to lay the groundwork for continued urban growth in the 2000s. But as a new report from demographer William Frey at the Brookings Institution shows, the trend didn't continue as expected:
While suburban and exurban areas saw a boom and bust cycle, Frey finds, cities and dense inner suburbs saw continued, if calm, growth overall.