As Rachel Cohen Booth writes in her recent Vox column, “Cities made a bet on millennials — but forgot one key thing,” those same residents are now leaving. As millennials enter their parenting years, cities are proving unprepared to meet the demands of raising children. Large urban counties lost nearly 8 percent of their under-five population between 2020 and 2024. In effect, cities won the first half of the demographic bet but failed to hedge against the second.
One reason is simple: the housing stock doesn’t fit. The boom in studios and one-bedrooms left few affordable three-bedroom apartments, townhouses, or starter homes in many cities. And zoning, parking minimums, and building codes make such units difficult and expensive to produce. As a result, many families decamp for suburban or exurban markets that offer more space and less friction.
Civic infrastructure has lagged, too. Families need good public schools, reliable transit, and safe parks—services that require long-term planning and financial investment. Local budgets often deprioritize these needs in favor of more immediately visible projects or economic development incentives. Meanwhile, the tax contributions of families tend to come later in the cycle, while their costs—schooling, child care, and more—arrive early. Cities often treat this lag as a liability rather than a long-term asset.
There are policy tools available. The Institute for Family Studies recommends that housing programs track not just unit count but also the number of people housed. That shift would reward family-sized units over sheer density. Likewise, revising zoning codes to allow duplexes, triplexes, and mid-scale multi-family buildings in more neighborhoods could help reintroduce missing-middle housing without disrupting urban form.
Some developers are experimenting with transitional models: one-bedroom-plus-den layouts or two-bedroom apartments with more flexible square footage. These may appeal to young parents or those planning to start families soon. But they are a halfway measure. Cities still need more full-sized family housing to retain residents past their early 30s.
What’s missing is not just housing but a holistic view of families as integral to civic health. Children are future workers, taxpayers, and community members. Policies that make urban living compatible with family life—through housing, schools, transportation, and public space—are not just pro-family; they’re pro-city.
Urban policymakers hoping to build durable, multi-generational communities should shift focus from courting mobile young adults to supporting those already committed to staying. That means investing in housing and infrastructure that help residents put down roots.