Is it a Suburban Exodus Yet?

"It is a well-trod trail: Suburban youngsters enter their early 20s, leave their parents’ comfortable Tudors or colonials for the pizazz of the city, dawdle a few years until they find mates and begin having children and then, seeking more space and good public schools, move back to the suburbs and into their own Tudors or colonials. But that pattern is changing, or at least shifting," writes Joseph Berger.

But there's increasing evidence that suburbs are finding it harder to draw expats back, even after suburbs attempt "to make themselves more alluring to young residents, building apartment complexes, concert venues, bicycle lanes and more exotic restaurants."

Berger cites the example of several New York counties: "Since 2000, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk have experienced a drop in the number of 25- to 44-year-olds, with the declines particularly sharp in more affluent communities. Between 2000 and 2011, Rye, for example, had a 63 percent decrease in 25- to 34-year-old residents and a 16 percent decrease in 35- to 44-year-olds."