Hipsters Flee as Invasion of the Baby Boomers Picks Up Speed

In the hip neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Seattle, and Denver, a silver tsunami is joining, and often forcing out, tattooed and mustachioed Millennials, as retiring Baby Boomers increasingly embrace urban living.

1 minute read

August 10, 2013, 7:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


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"Hip urban neighborhoods are aging, as a growing chunk of adults in their 50s and 60s and older give up their longtime homes and head for trendy condos," reports Nancy Keates. 

"The migration of baby boomers to cities, which started in the 1990s but slowed during the recession, is now regaining steam," she explains. "According to online real-estate brokerage Redfin, more than a million baby boomers moved to within 5 miles of the downtown of the 50 largest cities between 2000 and 2010, while the same number of baby boomers moved away from neighborhoods located 40 to 80 miles outside those 50 cities' downtown areas."

"In some cases, as the older, more affluent baby boomers—typically defined as born between 1946 and 1964—move to these neighborhoods, younger residents are starting to move out to avoid rising prices and the growing number of older folks. Mr. Jones in Seattle says it used to take about 10 years for the hipsters to get priced out of a neighborhood they pioneered—now they are moving out after five."

Thursday, August 8, 2013 in The Wall Street Journal

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