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First off I got to say there are some po dunk towns across America where if you took away baby boomers, I don't think there would be many people left in the area.
San Francisco is one of those iconic American cities but likely due to COL how many young families do you see walking around there? Not a ton of strollers or 20 somethings at least from what I've seen. They are all out in the burbs.
Rust belt usual suspects, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, it just seems like young people go find careers elsewhere. Really Baby Boomer/Gen X heavy.
You guys got any examples?
Meanwhile the famous up coming places that have been bandied about constantly like Phoenix, Austin, Nashville, etc. you really alot of young families.
It makes you wonder what effect this might have down the line as a reverberation effect a couple decades from now.
Most of the variation is in rural areas; most cities are the same middle-ground white color. Santa Fe, NM stands out as a decent-sized city with a higher median age. Ironically, my main association with the city is "Meow Wolf", a documentary I saw about an art collective / funhouse created by 20-somethings there.
Seattle (city of) for example is huge with 20-somethings but low in kids and probably 30-somethings. The Census site isn't working so I can't pull real comparison data.
Median age data doesn't help much, as you don't know which groups are high and low.
First off I got to say there are some po dunk towns across America where if you took away baby boomers, I don't think there would be many people left in the area.
San Francisco is one of those iconic American cities but likely due to COL how many young families do you see walking around there? Not a ton of strollers or 20 somethings at least from what I've seen. They are all out in the burbs.
Rust belt usual suspects, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, it just seems like young people go find careers elsewhere. Really Baby Boomer/Gen X heavy.
You guys got any examples?
Meanwhile the famous up coming places that have been bandied about constantly like Phoenix, Austin, Nashville, etc. you really alot of young families.
It makes you wonder what effect this might have down the line as a reverberation effect a couple decades from now.
Pittsburgh actually has a ton of Millennials and Gen Z'ers within the city limits due to the presence of several large universities. Most in our city just choose not to have children.
Seattle (city of) for example is huge with 20-somethings but low in kids and probably 30-somethings. The Census site isn't working so I can't pull real comparison data.
Median age data doesn't help much, as you don't know which groups are high and low.
I was going to say this. Median age is biased by families with young children. For me a city full of childless 20-somethings is "younger" than a city full of families that have 2+ young children. Median age is probably lower for the latter, however.
A five-year-old suburb full of entry-level buyers will be packed with parents in their early 30s who have young kids, and might not have many older folks.
An expensive core city might have tons of college students, professional 20-somethings, relatively few young families, and a strong base of older adults who bought when the city was cheaper. Maybe the population of strugglers with roommates is also pretty healthy.
Some would say a place feels "young" when it's full of kids. But I'd agree that a place is more vibrant (from my older perspective) when it's full of 20-somethings.
First off I got to say there are some po dunk towns across America where if you took away baby boomers, I don't think there would be many people left in the area.
San Francisco is one of those iconic American cities but likely due to COL how many young families do you see walking around there? Not a ton of strollers or 20 somethings at least from what I've seen. They are all out in the burbs.
Rust belt usual suspects, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, it just seems like young people go find careers elsewhere. Really Baby Boomer/Gen X heavy.
You guys got any examples?
Meanwhile the famous up coming places that have been bandied about constantly like Phoenix, Austin, Nashville, etc. you really alot of young families.
It makes you wonder what effect this might have down the line as a reverberation effect a couple decades from now.
Some of the Rust Belt metro areas may trend older, but when looking just at the core cities it sometimes shows a different story.
For the above cities (and a couple of others) here is a breakdown by a rounded percentage for age groups, based on 2019 ACS data (which will be adjusted in the near future).
City - Under 18 -- Age 18 to 24 -- Age 25 to 34 --- Total 34 and younger
Pittsburgh -- 15% -- 17% -- 22% -- 55%
Buffalo -- 23% -- 12% -- 18% -- 53%
Detroit -- 25% -- 10% -- 15% --50%
Cleveland -- 21% -- 10% -- 16% -- 47%
Phoenix -- 26% -- 10% -- 16% -- 52%
Austin -- 19% -- 10% -- 23% -- 52%
Nashville -- 21% -- 10% -- 20% -- 51%
San Francisco -- 13% -- 7% -- 24% -- 44%
Charlotte -- 16% -- 10% -- 18% -- 44%
Some of the Rust Belt metro areas may trend older, but when looking just at the core cities it sometimes shows a different story.
For the above cities (and a couple of others) here is a breakdown by a rounded percentage for age groups, based on 2019 ACS data (which will be adjusted in the near future).
City - Under 18 -- Age 18 to 24 -- Age 25 to 34 --- Total 34 and younger
Pittsburgh -- 15% -- 17% -- 22% -- 55%
Buffalo -- 23% -- 12% -- 18% -- 53%
Detroit -- 25% -- 10% -- 15% --50%
Cleveland -- 21% -- 10% -- 16% -- 47%
Phoenix -- 26% -- 10% -- 16% -- 52%
Austin -- 19% -- 10% -- 23% -- 52%
Nashville -- 21% -- 10% -- 20% -- 51%
San Francisco -- 13% -- 7% -- 24% -- 44%
Charlotte -- 16% -- 10% -- 18% -- 44%
Core cities is such an apples-to-oranges comparison.. Austin has 3x more people than Pittsburgh in the city limits, despite being a smaller metro. Pittsburgh has several universities and only 300k people, so the high 18 to 24 % makes sense on that front.
As others have said an area's median age doesn't tell you everything - that figure is just the age that half the people are older and half are younger. It'd be better to look at what particular age groups are over- or under-represented compared to the national average.
In a case like Utah's median age compared to the national average, that represents an unusually large proportion of minors due to large families being common in Mormon culture and not so much the state being a magnet for young adults.
Likewise, an area that is not overrepresented in any of the non-senior age brackets, but has an unusually high proportion of seniors, typically means that it's a popular retirement area.
If what you're trying to avoid is an area with a dying economy, your best bet would be to compare the proportion of teenagers vs. those in their mid-late 20s or so. A significant decline from the former to the latter (adjusting for birthrates) typically means there is an exodus of young adults once they become independent going to look for jobs elsewhere.
The COVID-19 pandemic has effectively changed the landscape of working America for the foreseeable future and opened eyes to possibilities outside the dense population centers, the increasing ability to work virtually and also the equally impactful Wage to Rental Housing Cost inequality present in many of the booming Sunbelt cities. More affordable Rust Belt cities and secondary MSAs where salaries go further are the likely winners in the coming years in my opinion.
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