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> Hint -- think about the really good (US-born) software engineers in SF you know. How many grew up in dense urban areas? Barely any, I'm willing to bet. Most a

> Hint -- think about the really good (US-born) software engineers in SF you know. How many grew up in dense urban areas? Barely any, I'm willing to bet. Most are from the middle-class 'burbs, and didn't go to decrepit urban schools. This might miss the larger trend. Most 20-30 somethings in the US grew up in the suburbs because there was a larger movement to the suburbs at that time. The fact that things worked out well then, doesn't mean that's always the optimal strategy. It only tells us what a potentially successful path was in the 80s and 90s. As cities become more desirable, and as housing prices there increase, the reasons for moving to the burbs shrink. Ignoring the demographic shift back to cities is a mistake. Correlation from what seemed to work in the 80s and 90s isn't necessarily causation or correlation in a world that has changed.

maxsilver 11y ago
> As cities become more desirable, and as housing prices there increase, the reasons for moving to the burbs shrink. Except that rising housing prices are the number one driver of people to the suburbs. Any urban area nice enough to want to raise kids in, is too expensive for most families to actually do so. And that's the situation today -- I can't imagine how much harder it will be in the future, when cities have even higher property values.
Spooky23 11y ago
One word: schools. Cities are awesome until you have kids. My son is 4, we're faced with sending our kids to an ok public elementary school, followed by a middle school where stabbings in the hallway are not unknown. Or pay for a private school. Or buy a house 6 miles away in the burbs and go to a nationally recognized school district.
- doyoulikeworms 11y ago
  As we've grown older (and nearer to having children), my partner and I have moved further away from the city for precisely this reason. Cities are great fun, and have a whole lot to offer a childless person/couple. But they are also (typically) more expensive, dirty, dangerous, crowded, and loud than the typical suburb. A home large enough to comfortably raise 2 kids in a safe neighborhood and with good schools is financially impossible for us in the city, but not in the suburbs. While the parent poster is wise to note that demographic correlation does not imply causation, I do think that suburbs are much better for raising a family. They seem designed for it, compared to cities. Of course, if someone reading this is raising a family in a city, then more power to you. I'm only speaking from my own experience.

maxsilver 11y ago

> As cities become more desirable, and as housing prices there increase, the reasons for moving to the burbs shrink. Except that rising housing prices are the number one driver of people to the suburbs. Any urban area nice enough to want to raise kids in, is too expensive for most families to actually do so. And that's the situation today -- I can't imagine how much harder it will be in the future, when cities have even higher property values.

Spooky23 11y ago

One word: schools. Cities are awesome until you have kids. My son is 4, we're faced with sending our kids to an ok public elementary school, followed by a middle school where stabbings in the hallway are not unknown. Or pay for a private school. Or buy a house 6 miles away in the burbs and go to a nationally recognized school district.

doyoulikeworms 11y ago
As we've grown older (and nearer to having children), my partner and I have moved further away from the city for precisely this reason. Cities are great fun, and have a whole lot to offer a childless person/couple. But they are also (typically) more expensive, dirty, dangerous, crowded, and loud than the typical suburb. A home large enough to comfortably raise 2 kids in a safe neighborhood and with good schools is financially impossible for us in the city, but not in the suburbs. While the parent poster is wise to note that demographic correlation does not imply causation, I do think that suburbs are much better for raising a family. They seem designed for it, compared to cities. Of course, if someone reading this is raising a family in a city, then more power to you. I'm only speaking from my own experience.