> I know several people who have moved out of cities over the last several years actually for various reasons, mostly the accumulating cost and declining benefi

> I know several people who have moved out of cities over the last several years actually for various reasons, mostly the accumulating cost and declining benefits, especially with the consequences of political and government policies starting to impact communities along with the overall cost of living increases. This is not a coronavirus trend, even if that has only accelerated things. Yeah this has been the deal in my area. Millennials were later to start families, but now that they are they're needing more space than they can afford with downtown real estate costs. If people are moving now I suspect it has to do with interest rates being low enough that it becomes an attractive option financially. As for declining benefits, that's true too. The initial wave of urbanization involved revitalizing poor neighborhoods by opening up lots of quirky, independent shops. But leases are now high enough that few such businesses can really survive and they're being replaced by large chains or, in other cases, just laying vacant or being occupied by luxury brands that people don't care about having access to on a day-to-day basis. COVID has just accelerated those marginal business collapsing under the weight of unsustainably high leases/rents.