Are Millennials Coming to Town? Residential Location Choice of Young Adults

How widespread is the downtown resurgence among the current generation of young adults 25 to 34 years old, often referred to as the Millennials? Answering the question, this article provides a detailed analysis of the past, current, and future geographic population distribution, focusing on the youn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Urban affairs review (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) Calif.), 2020-03, Vol.56 (2), p.565-604
Main Author: Lee, Hyojung
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Business districts
Central business districts
City centres
Computer simulation
Demographic change
Demographics
Districts
Geographic distribution
Geographical distribution
Inclination
Millennials
Population distribution
Population growth
Regression analysis
Residence
Residential location
Residential patterns
Suburban areas
Suburban development
Suburbs
Urban areas
Urban development
Urban environments
Urban population
Young adults
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Summary:How widespread is the downtown resurgence among the current generation of young adults 25 to 34 years old, often referred to as the Millennials? Answering the question, this article provides a detailed analysis of the past, current, and future geographic population distribution, focusing on the young adults. It first documents the demographic shifts from 1990 to 2015 by distance from the central business districts (CBDs) of the 50 largest U.S. metros. The results of the intrametropolitan analysis reconcile the back-to-the-city thesis with sustained suburban growth, explaining how the two sides have reached different conclusions. Then this article empirically examines the generational residential patterns using a multinomial logistic regression, suggesting the generational characteristics of the Millennials, at least partially, explain their inclination to choose city center over suburbs. The simulations based on the model estimates indicate that ongoing demographic shifts might contribute to more population growth in urban centers over the next two decades.
ISSN:1078-0874
1552-8332
DOI:10.1177/1078087418787668