Graduates are leaving coastal cities

The Future. While major US cities have priced out wage laborers for decades, they’re getting so expensive that even college graduates, who typically flock to metropolises, are leaving. The trend spells trouble for major cities — but it’s an economic opportunity for the rest of the US.

Bye bye nerdy
Rising costs and new opportunities are sending white-collar workers out of the city.

• In the past few years, NYC, LA, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, DC, and San Jose have all sustained a net loss of graduates. 
• These emigrés seek slightly cheaper cities like Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte, Nashville, and Tampa.
• While skyrocketing living costs and housing prices are partly to blame, the rise of remote work has also disentangled the highest-paying jobs from the urban centers where their headquarters are situated, enabling workers to move.

Trickle-out economics
This is certainly a problem for the cities that are losing workers — one that won’t be solved until these places get cheaper.

For the rest of the country, though, an equal geographic distribution of wealth and spending power could help stabilize the national economy and quell the resentment many Americans have for the coastal cities where wealth has long been concentrated. Spread the love.