Building the New America: Report on trends shaping the migration of people and jobs

Report: Building the New America

How do we build a new urban model for America — one that is better aligned with the aspirations of most Americans? This newly released report examines the housing trends that are driving today's migration of people and jobs.
Seattle Ferry shown against downtown skyline

Cautionary Tales from the Cities of Seattle and Philadelphia

by Wendell Cox — For some time now urban core proponents have boasted about a "return to the cities" from the suburbs. While the urban core cities have done better in recent years than before, the claim has been significantly overblown. Suburbs have continued to capture the "lion's share" of growth...
Charlotte, NC area

What is Middle-Income Housing Affordability?

by Wendell Cox — Few local or metropolitan issues receive more attention than housing affordability. This article provides a perspective on housing affordability, which is the relationship between housing costs and income.
Urban Center, downtown Toronto

Housing Affordability From Vancouver to Sydney to Toronto: Time to Do What Works

by Wendell Cox — A healthy market has a balance between supply and demand. In many cities, the demand for houses far outstrips the supply. Yet, cities have studiously avoided the obvious supply side policy that could restore housing affordability.
Classic ranch style suburban house

Pervasive Suburbanization: The 2017 Data

by Wendell Cox — The most recent Census Bureau population estimates have made it clear that migration to the suburbs and away from urban cores has accelerated dramatically since the early years of the Great Recession.
Suburb of Des Moines

Suburbs Could End Up On The Cutting Edge of Urban Change

by Joel Kotkin — Overwhelmingly, suburbs are where most growth is happening. Since 2010 suburbs and exurbs have produced roughly 80 percent of all new jobs. Even tech growth is shifting...

Landless Americans Are the New Serf Class

by Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox — For the better part of the past century, the American dream was defined, in large part, by that “universal aspiration” to own a home. As housing prices continue to outstrip household income, that’s changing as more and more younger Americans are ending up landless, and not by choice.
Los Angeles Central Business District, by Doc Searles

California’s Middle Class is in Decline Despite State’s Immense Wealth

by Amita Sharma — The California Dream of two or three generations ago was, `I’m going to move from a place that’s cold and flat to a place where there’s lots of opportunity,’” said Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University.

The Screwed Millennial Generation Gets Smart

by Joel Kotkin — It’s been seven years since I wrote about “the screwed generation.” The story told has since become familiar: Millennials, then largely in their twenties, faced a future of limited economic opportunity
suburban homes

Housing and the California Dream are at a Crossroads

by Joel Kotkin — For generations, California has offered its people an opportunity to own a home, start a business, and move up, whether someone came from Brooklyn, east Texas, Morelos or Taipei. That deal is still desired by most
Rockefeller Center

Suburbs & Exurbs Grab Nearly All Metropolitan Growth

by Wendell Cox — The pattern of suburban (and exurban) population growth in the suburbs and exurbs that has dominated the United States since World War II has returned and is intensifying.