WASHINGTON — Since the automobile was popularized in the 1920s, America’s suburbs have been growing faster than cities as people fled urban life for quieter, less-crowded expanses.
But new Census Bureau data indicate that, in general, cities last year grew faster than suburbs, reflecting an urban renaissance accelerated by the Great Recession.
For all 51 metro areas with a million or more people, cities as a whole grew by 1.1 percent from 2010 to 2011, while suburbs increased 0.9 percent. That’s a big change from the past decade, in which suburbs expanded at triple the rate of cities.
“This can really be seen as a milestone,” said William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer who analyzed the census data released Thursday. “What’s significant about it is that it’s pervasive across the country.”
Cities are retaining more residents, especially young people, as downtowns have been cleaned up and attractions have sprouted.
Chicago, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh went from significant population declines in the decade of the 2000s to growth in 2011. Los Angeles, a paragon of American sprawl, last year grew at more than double the average annual rate of the prior decade.
“I will never live in the suburbs,” said Jaclyn King, 28, a project director at a Denver hospital.
King, who grew up in Littleton and attended Columbine High School, told Associated Press that she remembers her parents’ 45-minute train commute to the city each day for work. She now rents a Denver house with her fiancée.
“I just like being connected to everything down here — concerts, work, restaurants, all of it. This is where everything’s at,” said King, who biked 6 miles to her job on a recent morning.
The shift toward cities, experts said, underscores the profound effects of the 2007-09 recession, which sharply slowed the formation of families and what had been an inexorable migration to the outer edges of the city.
“The sharp downturn in the suburban housing market has left many cities holding on to would-be suburbanites,” Frey said. “I don’t predict that cities will continue to dominate growth to the detriment of further suburban development. But it’s certainly put the brakes on something that’s been a staple in America.”
Before the recession struck, the suburbs boomed during the last decade as many more people bought homes.
Some cities are seeking to boost their appeal to the demographic of 18-to-29-year olds, who make up roughly 1 in 6 Americans. Some sociologists call them “generation rent.”
The increase in the cities’ population went hand in hand with slower growth in suburbs. Chicago shrank by 0.5 percent on average annually in the last decade, while its suburbs grew by nearly 1 percent every year. But in 2011, both Chicago’s city and suburban area grew by 0.3 percent.
Similarly, in the Los Angeles area, the population grew at about the same rate in the city and suburban areas.
“In general, the continued malaise of the suburbs has a lot to do with the general mini-revival of cities,” Frey said. “Overall, city growth is up and suburban growth is down.”
1.1%
Population growth from 2010-11 in primary cities in metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1 million
0.9%
Population growth in surrounding suburbs
9%
People ages 19 to 34 approved for mortgages from 2009-11, contributing the shift to urban rental property
