The Hidden Reason Families Are Leaving Cities with Alicia Pederson

Building Better Cities · Jul 23, 2026 · 30m · transcript

Walk through any major American city and notice what's missing. Not coffee shops or co-working spaces — those are everywhere. What you won't see much of are children. Families with kids. People who chose the city not just for a season of life, but permanently.

That absence is telling a story — and the data backs it up.

Young families with children are a shrinking part of the U.S. population in major urban centers. A new Urban Institute report warns that cities that fail to retain families may face shrinking school systems, weaker tax bases, and increasing poverty concentration — while family…