For the first chart of 2018, I have something from the erstwhile City Observatory website, and Joe Cortright’s work there outlining demographic and housing trends. This latest is about urban growth within the educated 25-34 demographic.
Here’s the chart, with Minneapolis highlighted:
[Click here for the full dataset.]
Cortright argues that this national trend is especially meaningful given the burdens facing millennials:
Cities are recording this growth in young adults in spite of serious headwinds. Cities, as we’ve frequently noted, haven’t made it easy to build additional housing, especially in the dense urban neighborhoods that are in highest demand. And young, well-educated workers are moving to cities in spite of rising rents. If housing supply were more elastic in cities, and rents were more affordable, its likely that even more young adults would live in cities.
To me, that seems like a big change over a four-year span. However, by contrast (just to pick three usual comp cities), Pittsburgh is at 18.7%, Seattle is at 30.8%, and Denver is at 19.7%. That suggests that either Minneapolis is demographically different or that it’s lagging behind.