Migration to the suburbs and Sun Belt picks up

Brookings Institution reports:

America’s population has been uncharacteristically frozen in place since the 2007-2009 recession began. National migration rates have been stuck at historically low levels, and traditional flows to the suburbs and Sun Belt have been stunted or at best uneven. But newly released population estimates for counties and metro areas signal that a shift may be under way.

The new statistics through July 2014 suggest a renewed growth in outer suburban “exurban” counties, propelled by domestic migration. The growth is perhaps a sign that the housing market is luring young adults out of the urban core, and it raises the possibility that the attraction of cities—registered for the last three years—may not be as permanent as some assumed.

Using a Brookings classification of counties associated with urban cores and suburbs within large metropolitan areas, we see for the first time since 2010 that exurban counties are growing faster than inner urban core counties nationally

The long term trend away from the central city ... continues.