A recent Marketplace podcast discussed this as well.  Affordability was a large factor in why the suburbs are still popular.<p><pre><code>  “There has been an increase in college-educated young adults living in very dense
  urban neighborhoods — smart young things living in Brooklyn, in downtown
  San Francisco,” said housing analyst Jed Kolko at U.C. Berkeley’s
  Terner Center for Housing Innovation. “But it’s not true of that generation
  overall. Only about one third of 25-to-34-year-olds have a college degree.
  Today they are actually less likely to be living in urban neighborhoods,
  as opposed to suburban areas, than that same age group was in 2000.”
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1. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.marketplace.org&#x2F;topics&#x2F;economy&#x2F;young-buyers-want-live-burbs" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.marketplace.org&#x2F;topics&#x2F;economy&#x2F;young-buyers-want-...</a>