With cost of city living out of reach, young adults bring fresh vibe to suburbs

The Boston Globe reports:

The bright lights, varied entertainment, job opportunities, culture, and living near or even with friends have been part of the allure of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville for young people over many years.

At no time has that been truer than now, with Boston boasting thehighest concentration of people ages 20 to 34of any major US city. And Somerville and Cambridge have even higher percentages of “millennials’’ than Boston.

But as the cost of living continues to soar in those three cities, an increasing number of young people have turned to the suburbs, where the successors to the Generation X age group have brought a fresh vibe that has many observers angling to find and crown “the next Somerville.”

After Somerville, where 43 percent of the population is in the age range of 20 to 34, the highest concentrations of millennials are in Waltham at 31 percent, and Medford and Brookline at 29 percent, according to the latest estimates from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and a Globe analysis of 158 cities and towns in Greater Boston. To the south, Quincy has the highest concentration of 20- to 34-year-olds, who make up 27 percent of its nearly 93,000 residents.

High prices have consequences.