Generation Y's Love Affair With Cities Grows, But Will It Last?

Urban America's rebound over last two decades can be largely attributed to the tastes of those around the ages of 20-34 years old. The generation's delay of household formation, marriage, and childbearing has enabled the demographic to fill America's cities. But now, as the cohort reaches older age, and marriage and child-rearing become real considerations, will they stay in their urban environs?

"The last time this big a generation of young people started reaching their late 20s was the Baby Boomers in the early 1970s," writes Rolf Pendall in The Atlantic Cities. But Pendall points out that unlike the 1970s, the current age group continues to delay major life choices that might make them more prone to a flight to the suburbs.

"Millennials now living in cities like New York, Washington, Boston, and Chicago have started putting down roots in urban neighborhoods," says Pendall. "They have generated new demands for local government and businesses so that cities are becoming places where families stay by choice and not just by necessity."

As a result of these demands, writes Pendall, "Millennials may affect tomorrow's cities as much as Baby Boomers have shaped today's suburbia."