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.
Flag of Utah

California Out-Migration Intensifies, Population Moves South

by Wendell Cox — The new Census Bureau population estimates for the states have been released. The nation has experienced its slowest growth since 1938, adding only 0.6 percent to the population between 2017 and 2018...
Aerial view of Grand Rapids, Michigan

Highest 2016 Home Ownership Rate in Grand rapids, Los Angeles Last

by Wendell Cox — Home ownership is finally increasing in the United States, following the housing bust.
Boston,MA—Urban Back Bay

How Much Density is Enough?

by Randal O'Toole — Portland New Urbanist Joe Cortright has rarely seen a high-density development he didn’t like. Most recently, he argues that the reason why most most people live in suburbs is that they are forced to do so by evil zoning rules that prohibit that densities that people actually prefer.
Interstate 110 in Lost Angeles

Employment Access in US Metropolitan Areas (2017)

by Wendell Cox — Economic growth of metropolitan areas is enhanced by employment access --- the greater the number of jobs that the average worker can reach in a particular time, the better the economic performance. Recent advances in data have made it possible to measure the effectiveness of access systems in metro areas.
Gavin Newsom at Web 2.0 Summit

California Needs a New Economic Model

by Joel Kotkin — California, epitomizes what economist Thomas Piketty has aptly called “the Brahmin left,” which trades in digits, images and financial transactions. This works well for the top earners, and their offspring, but most Californians are left out of the boom.
Residential rooftop solar panels

California Must Stop Trying to Stomp Out Suburbia

by Joel Kotkin — A suburban housing recovery after the Great Recession has been hampered, in large part, by tough regulations. By 2017, California metros like Los Angeles-Orange and even the Bay Area were producing housing at lower rates than...
California Exodus

A Generation Plans an Exodus from California

by Joel Kotkin — California is the great role model for America, particularly if you read the Eastern press. Yet few boosters have yet to confront the fact that the state is continuing to hemorrhage people at a higher rate
Aerial view of suburbs

The Battle for Houston

by Joel Kotkin — America’s most opportunity-rich city faces a long-term challenge from “smart-growth” advocates pushing for more regulation.
Millennials Community Search

Millennials Reinvent Localism in Their Search for Community

by Anne Snyder — It’s common knowledge that millennials long for "community." What’s less understood is the concrete expression of that longing in cities and suburbs across America...
Happy Labor Day, America (2016)

The Localist Revolution

by David Brooks — Localism is the belief that power should be wielded as much as possible at the neighborhood, city and state levels. Localism is thriving — as a philosophy and a way of doing things — because the national government is dysfunctional while many towns are reviving.