Traditional development

[Mountaineer]

Interesting report.

http://uli.org/report/evolving-u-s-subu ... velopment/

Key Findings:

America remains a largely suburban nation.
In America’s 50 largest (and most urbanized) metropolitan areas, suburbs as defined here account for 79 percent of the population, 78 percent of households, and 32 percent of the land area.

Suburban growth has driven recent metropolitan growth.
From 2000 to 2015, suburban areas accounted for 91 percent of population growth and 84 percent of household growth in the top 50 metro areas.

The large majority of Americans work in suburbs, although job growth has been more balanced between suburbs and cities recently. As of 2014, 67.5 percent of employment in the 50 largest metro areas was in suburbs. Between 2005 and 2010, employment in suburban areas remained stagnant with zero growth, while it increased by 8.0 percent in urban areas. But between 2010 and 2014, the number of jobs increased by 9.0 percent in suburbs, compared with 6.0 percent in urban areas.

Suburban residents overall have higher incomes.
The median household income in suburbs ($71,000) is substantially higher than in urban areas ($49,200). In addition, 88 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds with incomes above $75,000 live in the suburbs (compared with 77 percent of those with incomes less than $75,000). And 90 percent of those between ages 55 and 74 earning more than $75,000 live in the suburbs (compared with 80 percent of those in this age range earning less).

The suburbs are “young” compared with their regions overall.
Fully 85 percent of children ages 18 and younger and, contrary to popular perception and most media attention, three-quarters of 25- to 34-year-olds in the 50 largest metro areas live in the suburbs.

American suburbs as a whole are racially and ethnically diverse.
Fully 76 percent of the minority population in the 50 largest metro areas lives in the suburbs— not much lower than the 79 percent of the population in these metro areas as a whole.

The regional variation in home values between suburbs and cities is substantial.
On average, the median home value in urban areas is $365,000, compared with $305,000 in suburban areas (not controlling for home type or size), with substantial variation by region. In the New York metro area, median home values in urban areas are 28 percent higher than in suburban areas. However, the opposite relationship is true for what we define as Legacy and Heartland metro areas, where suburban areas have median home values that are substantially higher than median home values in urban areas (18 percent in Legacy metro areas and 19 percent in Heartland metro areas). In Gateway, Sun Belt, and New West metro areas, median home values are very similar in urban and suburban areas, not controlling for home type or size.