NewsWire
from Demography
The "Superstar" Metro May Be Fading
Author Joel Kotkin says that the era of the “superstar” metro may be coming to an end. While major metro areas like Los Angeles and New York were among the quickest to recover from the Great Recession, Kotkin argues that issues such as housing affordability and shifting demographics favor “opportunity” boomtowns like San Antonio and Austin.
Kotkin is right: The hot bicoastal metro areas are becoming prohibitively expensive, triggering rising dissatisfaction from young residents. Biggest complaints: High cost of housing, inadequate schools, high taxes, unfunded pension tremors, and (in the bluest cities) overregulation of small businesses. Gen Xers are already migrating to Midwest, Mountain, and Sunbelt cities in growing numbers. When Millennials follow, they will do so en masse, picking a discrete number of winners where they can achieve critical mass. Which will these be: Denver, Houston, Columbus, Nashville, Kansas City, Charlotte, Orlando, Cleveland, even (gasp!) Detroit?