FOR PEOPLE

psychology professor Bella De Paulo
asserts that singles increasingly cluster
in “urban tribes.” These are made
up of mostly single people “creating
community ties that connect people to
one another through work and leisure,
holidays and crises.” 119 Eric Klinenberg,
in his provocative 2012 book Going Solo,
notes that for “hip” young professionals,
living alone in the city constitutes “… a
sign of success and a mark of distinction,
a way to gain freedom and experience
the anonymity that can make city life
so exhilarating… it’s a way to reassert
control over your life." 120
Prospects for
Millennial Families
What happens to young people
when they grow up, particularly if
they want to buy a house, or start a
family? The millennials, the generation
born after 1983, constitute the largest
cohort in the country; by 2020 they
will constitute one-third of the adult
population. 121 In the next five years,
this generation will spend more (on a
per household basis) than any other
generation does; $2 trillion on rent and
home purchases combined. 122
Some believe that millennials
will choose high density urban living,
putting an effective end to the long
trend towards suburbanization. 123
Urban theorist Peter Katz, for example,
suggests that this generation has little
interest in “... returning to the cul-desacs
of their teenage years.” 124
Yet do millennials actually “hate
the burbs,” as one Fortune editor has
confidently claimed? 125 This seems
unlikely. The urban preference of a
cohort of young educated, affluent people
is nothing new. In the 1980s, the new
urban pioneers were called yuppies. 126
Yet only 20 percent of millennials live
in urban core districts. 127 Nearly 90
percent of millennial growth in major
metropolitan areas between 2000 and
2011 took place in the suburbs and
exurbs. 128 Like their parents, many
millennials will probably end up in
suburban and low density locations.
Extensive generational survey
research done by Frank N. Magid
Associates reveals that 43 percent of
millennials describe suburbs as their
“ideal place to live,” compared to just
31 percent of older generations. Only
17 percent of millennials identify the
urban core as their preferred longterm
destination. 129 A 2014 survey by
the Demand Institute came up with
similar findings, with the largest group
of millennials expressing a desire for
more space, suburban locations, and
homeownership. 130
In a National Association of Home
Builders survey, roughly two-thirds of
millennials said they ultimately desire
a home in the suburbs. Even the Urban
Land Institute, historically less than
friendly to the suburbs, found that
some 80 percent of current millennial
homeowners live in single family
houses, and seventy percent of the entire
generation expects to be living in one by
2020. 131 What matters here are not the
exact numbers, but that so many surveys,
using different measurements, end up
with essentially the same findings.
This shift to suburbia is only part
of the millennial story. Another aspect
is this generation's gradual movement
from expensive regions to less expensive
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