Like their parents and their grandparents before them, Millennials are fleeing the cities and moving to the suburbs. That’s the word from TIME magazine, which examined Census data to determine which cities have reached “peak Millennial.”
Dowell Myers coined the term “peak millennial,” in 2015. The University of Southern
California professor theorized that like generations before them, millennials would begin migrating to the suburbs for more space and better schools. The largest birth group within the Millennial generation turned 27 this year, and now that they’ve been kicked off their parents’ insurance, they’re seeking affordable housing, low crime rates, and better schools.
“Are large numbers of millennials really so enamored with city living that they will age and raise families inside the urban core, or will many of them, like earlier generations, eventually head to the suburbs in search of bigger homes and better school districts?” an article in the New York Times asks.
The answer appears to be ‘yes.’
Cities on the East Coast reached peak millennial in 2016, according to TIME. In places like New York and Washington, D.C., the population of those born between 1980 and 1996 is plateauing, while Boston lost 7,000 millennials last year.
Chicago peaked in 2016, and now its millennial population is moving downward. TIME’s sources theorize millennials are migrating to the suburbs for affordable housing, but in dangerous cities like Chicago, they may be fleeing violent crime as much as they’re escaping high rent.
West Coast cities are faring slightly better in the hunt for millennial residents. Cities like San Francisco and Seattle have yet to reach peak millennial, but Los Angeles peaked in 2015, TIME reports.
