4 ms·

Yes, but those cities don't have the same job markets. Not everybody is a coder or an engineer with skills in high demand in non-metropolitan areas

• mac01021 10y ago
  Serious question (because I'm ignorant): What sets of skills are in high demand in those 4 or 5 metropolises but nowhere else?
  • legodt 10y ago
    Anything in fashion, design, media, etc. Fields that have global distribution for creative work at large scale is what I'm familiar with and unless you are willing to work for a smaller company (I.e. not large consultancy or high profile work), you have to be in a major urban center.
    • ghaff 10y ago
      Not sure why people disagree with this answer. There are clearly creative fields where the top jobs and opportunities are indeed concentrated in a specific set of large cities. Probably more so than most other types of fields. More so than tech, for example, web/social/mobile in Silicon Valley notwithstanding. That said, other industries are geographically concentrated as well. If you have your heart set on working in the oil business, you probably shouldn't set your sights on living in Boston.
  • skewart 10y ago
    It's less about specific skills (e.g. writing or accounting) being in demand in those places and nowhere else, and more about what kinds of companies are demanding those skills and how much they're willing to pay. Like legodt mentioned in a sibling comment, the most influential and prestigious companies in a lot of industries are pretty concentrated in a handful of big cities. It's not just that different industries have their hubs - media, design, finance in NYC, entertainment in LA, tech in SF. A whole ecosystem of supporting firms grows around these companies. So the most influential and prestigious law, accounting, and consulting firms tend to cluster in these cities too. There also are a lot of people who don't necessarily want to spend their entire lives in, say, NYC but think it will be a good career move to get a prestigious name on their resume before going somewhere else. At this point I think there's kind of a chicken and egg situation where a lot of ambitious, talented people flock to major cities because firms are there, and firms stay planted in these cities because so many talented, ambitious people are flocking there.
• Clubber 10y ago
  >those cities don't have the same job markets Fair enough, but mid sized cities have jobs for plumbers, electricians, government employees, secretaries, marketing people, accountants, college professors, construction, biologists, vetrenarians, etc. The title, "The Middle Class Can't Afford to Live in Cities Anymore" is absurd.
  • legodt 10y ago
    But a lot of those professions can't afford rent inside the city and are forced into unwieldly commutes and lose out on the benefits of being in a city
    • JoeAltmaier 10y ago
      The whole point of smaller cities is, they are more affordable. Those professions will have a better time of it than in a larger city.
      • legodt 10y ago
        But what happens when very few of those professionals can afford to live in the big ones?
        • JoeAltmaier 10y ago
          The price goes up for folks living there? And then plumbers can afford to live there. Its good old supply-and-demand freemarket principles at work.
      • analog31 10y ago
        I think there's a tradeoff. Smaller cities should be more affordable, but there is less labor mobility, leading to higher economic risk. If a person finds themselves in even a moderately specialized occupation, and loses their job, there might not be another job for them unless they move to another city. Thus they either have to deal with periodic un- or under-employment, or manage the risk by building a cash cushion, either of which means a less affluent lifestyle.