We’ve often heard new urbanist types claim that young people just starting out prefer to live in cities. Apparently this is just not true statistically.<\/p>\n
“In fact, as a new Brookings study shows, millennials are not moving en masse to large, dense cities but away from them. According to demographer Bill Frey, the 2013\u201317 American Community Survey shows that New York now suffers the largest net annual outmigration of post-college millennials (ages 25\u201334) of any metro area\u2014some 38,000 annually\u2014followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego. New York\u2019s losses are 75 percent higher than during the previous five-year period.”<\/em><\/p>\n “In truth, despite a much praised art scene and often gushing media treatment, downtown LA\u2019s revival has done little to improve the overall region. The LA basin has been losing jobs that pay more than $75,000 annually for a decade and now suffers among the high\u00adest levels of housing overcrowding and poverty, the least af\u00adfordable housing, the lowest homeownership rates, and the second-largest concentration of homeless in the nation.”<\/em><\/p>\n “Given these realities, it\u2019s not surprising that would-be gentrifiers face increasing and even violent opposition. In Los Angeles, gen\u00adtrification efforts have sparked grassroots rebellions in the historically African American Crenshaw district, Chinatown, South Los An\u00adgeles, and, most especially, East Los Angeles. In 2015, a real estate firm littered LA\u2019s Arts District with a \u201cWhy Rent Downtown When You Could Own in Boyle Heights?\u201d flyer. Realtors promoted a bike tour through the \u201ccharming, historic, walkable and bikeable neigh\u00adborhood.\u201d After the realtor received messages like \u201cStay outta my hood\u201d and \u201cI hope your 60-minute bike ride is a total disaster,\u201d the event was canceled.”<\/em><\/p>\n