US inner cities booming as young adults shun suburbs

New Orleans, which saw its population shrink in the mid-2000s due to Hurricane
Katrina, saw the biggest rebound in city growth relative to suburbs in the
last year, at 3.7 per cent compared to 0.6 per cent.

Atlanta, Denver, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina, also showed
wide disparities in city growth compared to suburbs.

Other big cities showing faster growth compared to the previous decade include
Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Seattle.

“I will never live in the suburbs,” said Jaclyn King, 28, a project
director at a Denver hospital.

Ms King, who grew up in a Denver suburb, still remembers her parents’
45-minute train commute to the city each day. She now rents a Denver house
with her fiancé.

“I just like being connected to everything down here – concerts, work,
restaurants, all of it. This is where everything’s at,” she said.

Businesses are taking notice. “Companies are really seeking to meet the
need of younger people who are choosing to live in cities,” said Royal
Shepard, an analyst with SP Capital IQ in New York, who tracks the
residential and commercial real estate market.

“There’s a bigger focus on building residences near transportation hubs,
such as a train or subway station, because fewer people want to travel by
car for an hour and a half for work anymore.”

Katherine Newman, a sociologist and dean of arts and sciences at Johns Hopkins
University, chronicled the financial struggles of young adults in a recent
book. From 2009 to 2011, just 9 per cent of 29- to 34-year-olds were
approved for a first-time mortgage.

“Young adults simply can’t amass the down payments needed and don’t have
the earnings,” she said. “They will be renting for a very long
time.”

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