Major U.S. cities saw a drop in their percentages of millennial residents for the fourth consecutive year in 2018, according to newly released census data analyzed by The Wall Street Journal.
Nearly 27,000 people aged 25 to 39 collectively flooded out of cities with populations over 500,000, including New York City, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and more. Though that number is far less extreme than the nearly 54,000 millennials who left large cities in 2017, the Journal notes that it represents a continued trend away from the "urban revival" led by young people from 2011 to 2014.
This decline is led largely by those on the older end of the cohort, aged 35 to 39; the number of younger millennials moving to big cities actually increased, but that growth has reportedly begun to taper off in recent years. Cities that saw gains in their young adult populations in 2018 include Los Angeles, San Antonio, Denver and Seattle.
Rising housing costs and depleting quality of schools are believed to be the main issues driving millennials out of urban areas. Census data reportedly shows that when young people leave major cities, they typically settle in suburbs outside of either the metro area they just left or another large city.
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