Young Americans Are Leaving Big Blue Blob Cities

January 10, 2024 By E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

By tokar @ Shutterstock.com

Young Americans are tiring of city life. They want to raise families but can’t afford to do so in big blue blob cities where the rental price of just a loft apartment consumes nearly all of their paycheck. Instead, they’re moving to what one Harvard researcher calls “the most boring places in the world.” Alicia Wright reports in the Daily Mail that Millennials are moving away from cities for quieter rural lives and lower costs of living. She writes:

Millennials are moving from trendy urban centers to the ‘most boring places in the world’, according to real estate experts.

Young adults are abandoning their cramped apartments and crowded subway commutes for more affording housing in the suburbs across America.

In 2022 adults between 20 and 29 were more likely to say they moved for housing-related reasons than for family- or employment-related reasons, census data reveals.

‘It turned out that millennials are moving to the most boring places in the world,’ Hyojung Lee from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies told Business Insider.

According to Lee cities with the most expensive rents and the smallest shares of apartments with three or more bedrooms lost the largest shares of their millennial population to the suburbs in recent years.

One real-estate broker, John Natale, has dubbed this phenomenon ‘drive till you qualify.’

Natale, who is based in Wall Township, New Jersey says he used to be able to help his clients find a home within budget in whichever county they wanted to be in.

Now, however, his millennial clients are being priced out of anything within commuting distance of New York City.

‘People are adjusting one, two, maybe even three counties over just to be able to afford a house,’ he said.

Action Line: Many people are looking for a better America after politicians in the big blue blob cities seem to have forgotten about the important parts of their jobs, like ensuring safety, keeping the cost of living low, and keeping taxes reasonable. If you are looking for a better America, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2023 Super States, and click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter to be among the first to receive my upcoming 2024 Super States update.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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