5 ms·

I see a few factors in my friends (mid to late 30s, east coast city) that leads me to believe there won't be a mass exodus to the burbs: - They aren't having c

I see a few factors in my friends (mid to late 30s, east coast city) that leads me to believe there won't be a mass exodus to the burbs: - They aren't having children at all - They are having children very late, essentially already settling in the city - They are having fewer children if any - Since all of the jobs are in the city, they are optimizing commute times - The burbs housing stock are all 40+ year old homes that need significant system updates - I don't see the unbridled consumerism the boomers had, less stuff = less requirement of space

amyjess 10y ago
> Since all of the jobs are in the city, they are optimizing commute times I find that funny, because in Texas, the jobs are all in the suburbs and are rapidly moving farther out into the suburbs and even the exurbs. I live in the suburbs of Dallas, and of the four jobs I've had, I've commuted further out into the suburbs for three of them. Only one of my jobs was in the city. And the number of jobs in the suburbs are growing: we've had some big-name companies relocate their headquarters from other states to Dallas suburbs like Plano and Frisco, and one big-name company that used to be headquartered in Downtown Dallas just moved their headquarters to Irving, another suburb of Dallas. Also, my current employer is based in an inner-ring suburb (Plano) and there's been talk of how we're probably going to outgrow our office in a couple of years, and from what I've heard we're very likely to relocate to an exurb. > The burbs housing stock are all 40+ year old homes that need significant system updates This doesn't apply to Texas either. Most of the suburbs, and especially the exurbs, were built in the last 30 years or so, and a good amount of them were built in the last 10-20 years (e.g. everything in Prosper and Celina is very new development). Most of what's now suburb and exurb was farmland when I was a kid, and I'm only 32.
- Arizhel 10y ago
  Yes, but Texas (outside of Austin) is basically like a totally different country. It bears zero resemblance to NYC, Boston, DC, SanFran, etc.
  - sremani 10y ago
    Absolutely not, the sprawl of Dallas is not that different from sprawl of D.C. only bigger not different.
  - vonmoltke 10y ago
    It bears a whole lot of resemblance to LA, Phoenix, Denver, Tuscon, Las Vegas, Jacksonville, Atlanta, ... I could keep going, but the point is NYC, SF, and Boston are the outliers in the US, not the other way around.
    - ghaff 10y ago
      Boston is really a mix. There are some startups and, increasingly, satellite offices in Boston/Cambridge of both local and west coast companies. Plus biotech/pharma in Kendall Square of course. But the main offices of a lot of the local tech and tech-related employers are still out on the 128 and 495 corridors as they've been for decades.
  - amyjess 10y ago
    > Texas (outside of Austin) Austin is no different from the rest of Texas. I have friends in Austin; the way they describe Pflugerville, it sounds exactly like Plano or Richardson. Dell's corporate campus is in Round Rock, too. Yeah, the city center is full of hipsters, but the suburbs are indistinguishable from those of Dallas and Houston.
- schema9000 10y ago
  The same is true of Phoenix. A lot of large employers like Intel and Wells Fargo and startups like Infusionsoft have campuses in what is typically considered a suburb, like Scottsdale or Chandler. I'd personally much rather live in a suburb then a "cool" city center. I've done both and I enjoy the peace, quiet and space more than being able to walk to buy groceries.
  - seansmccullough 10y ago
    I agree, I recently moved from Seattle to the suburbs. It's nice to be able to go places and get groceries without it being a production that takes a bunch of planning.
- tormeh 10y ago
  It depends on the industry. Land is cheaper in the suburbs, so companies with little reason to be in the center are likely to be located further out.
- wott 10y ago
  Same in almost every city in France. Sometimes a small pole of office buildings has been built near the main railway station, but everything else is in the close suburbs because land and thus office surface is cheap there, and that's all what matters for companies. So everybody spends hours commuting from the city to the suburb, or from a suburb to another suburb.
cryoshon 10y ago
all relating back to not having enough money to do the above...

amyjess 10y ago

> Since all of the jobs are in the city, they are optimizing commute times I find that funny, because in Texas, the jobs are all in the suburbs and are rapidly moving farther out into the suburbs and even the exurbs. I live in the suburbs of Dallas, and of the four jobs I've had, I've commuted further out into the suburbs for three of them. Only one of my jobs was in the city. And the number of jobs in the suburbs are growing: we've had some big-name companies relocate their headquarters from other states to Dallas suburbs like Plano and Frisco, and one big-name company that used to be headquartered in Downtown Dallas just moved their headquarters to Irving, another suburb of Dallas. Also, my current employer is based in an inner-ring suburb (Plano) and there's been talk of how we're probably going to outgrow our office in a couple of years, and from what I've heard we're very likely to relocate to an exurb. > The burbs housing stock are all 40+ year old homes that need significant system updates This doesn't apply to Texas either. Most of the suburbs, and especially the exurbs, were built in the last 30 years or so, and a good amount of them were built in the last 10-20 years (e.g. everything in Prosper and Celina is very new development). Most of what's now suburb and exurb was farmland when I was a kid, and I'm only 32.

Arizhel 10y ago
Yes, but Texas (outside of Austin) is basically like a totally different country. It bears zero resemblance to NYC, Boston, DC, SanFran, etc.
- sremani 10y ago
  Absolutely not, the sprawl of Dallas is not that different from sprawl of D.C. only bigger not different.
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  It bears a whole lot of resemblance to LA, Phoenix, Denver, Tuscon, Las Vegas, Jacksonville, Atlanta, ... I could keep going, but the point is NYC, SF, and Boston are the outliers in the US, not the other way around.
  - ghaff 10y ago
    Boston is really a mix. There are some startups and, increasingly, satellite offices in Boston/Cambridge of both local and west coast companies. Plus biotech/pharma in Kendall Square of course. But the main offices of a lot of the local tech and tech-related employers are still out on the 128 and 495 corridors as they've been for decades.
- amyjess 10y ago
  > Texas (outside of Austin) Austin is no different from the rest of Texas. I have friends in Austin; the way they describe Pflugerville, it sounds exactly like Plano or Richardson. Dell's corporate campus is in Round Rock, too. Yeah, the city center is full of hipsters, but the suburbs are indistinguishable from those of Dallas and Houston.
schema9000 10y ago
The same is true of Phoenix. A lot of large employers like Intel and Wells Fargo and startups like Infusionsoft have campuses in what is typically considered a suburb, like Scottsdale or Chandler. I'd personally much rather live in a suburb then a "cool" city center. I've done both and I enjoy the peace, quiet and space more than being able to walk to buy groceries.
- seansmccullough 10y ago
  I agree, I recently moved from Seattle to the suburbs. It's nice to be able to go places and get groceries without it being a production that takes a bunch of planning.
tormeh 10y ago
It depends on the industry. Land is cheaper in the suburbs, so companies with little reason to be in the center are likely to be located further out.
wott 10y ago
Same in almost every city in France. Sometimes a small pole of office buildings has been built near the main railway station, but everything else is in the close suburbs because land and thus office surface is cheap there, and that's all what matters for companies. So everybody spends hours commuting from the city to the suburb, or from a suburb to another suburb.

cryoshon 10y ago

all relating back to not having enough money to do the above...