Both city and suburban living have their positives and negatives
Due in part to trends that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic—and the rise in remote work—the suburbs have become more expensive in most parts of the US. But whether or not that influences your decision to move to greener pastures depends on numerous factors. Here is what you need to know about the cost of living in the suburbs and the potential benefits and pitfalls of leaving the big city.
What’s considered a suburb?
What is considered a suburb in the US is not as clearly defined as you might think. It is difficult to apply one definition to all metropolitan areas since most major centers and their surrounding areas are so varied in both population size and density. While the Pew Research Center, the Census Bureau, and even the US government define suburban and urban areas in various ways, centrality and density are common distinguishers between the two.
The easiest and most common way to distinguish between an urban and suburban area is by calling the principal municipality in a metro area the city and everything else surrounding it a suburb. This easy distinction makes more sense in areas like Austin, Texas, where the population in the city limits comprises nearly half of the overall metropolitan region.
In other areas it is a little greyer, such as the Bay Area, where “the city” of San Francisco only makes up about one-tenth of the population of the overall metropolitan area. In this case, anyone who lives in a high-rise apartment in downtown Oakland would technically be living in the suburbs while someone living in a single-family home in a more residential area of San Francisco would be living an urban lifestyle.
Why do people prefer suburbs?
Perhaps the most obvious reason that people would prefer the suburbs is the amount of space you get. If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred even more devoted urbanites to flee small, expensive apartments in many downtown cores. Suburbs usually offer homebuyers and rents wide-open spaces and lower population densities.
Another key draw for the suburbs is affordability. Generally, you can expect more square footage for less money in the suburbs than most major centers, whether you are buying or renting or seeking apartments, condos, or houses.
Getting back to nature and higher levels of safety are still more reasons that people prefer the suburbs. While most urban centers contain designated green spaces, nature lovers usually prefer to be surrounded by grass and trees everywhere they go.
More than cities, the suburbs offer yards and even apartments have balconies that overlook well-tended landscaping. And while crime in cities has been on the decline for years now, anyone who remains concerned opt for gated communities in the suburbs. But whether in a gated community or not, suburbs tend to see less overall crime than the downtown core.
City vs suburb living
While the differences in living in the city versus a suburb vary from region to region, there are distinctions between the two that hold pretty much everywhere. One is that, typically, housing and the cost of living generally are more expensive in cities than in suburban areas.
Another is that living in the suburbs will usually afford you more space than living in the downtown core. While cost and space are usually more favorable in the suburbs, urban centers offer higher job availability, which essentially means that, if you do choose to live in the suburbs, you will likely have to commute. Finally, urban areas often offer more culture than the suburbs, which basically boils down to a lifestyle perk.
Are suburbs more expensive?
Deeper into the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shift in favor of the suburbs, meaning that, due to higher demand and competition, the dollar gains in the average home value rose faster in the suburbs. In fact, since July of 2021, home values in the suburbs has risen faster on an annual basis than their urban counterparts.
As of March 2022, the typical suburban home in the US rose in value by nearly $66,500. The typical urban home, on the other hand, gained just over $61,650 in value during that same time period. This suburban outpacing of urban households has not been seen since January 2013, when home values started their recovery after the housing crash.
While urban markets are also seeing incredible growth, and taking into account that markets across the US do differ, the suburbs are seeing a greater demand in most of the nation. For instance, there was a higher dollar-value growth in the last year in the suburbs of most of the 50 biggest US metros, compared to the urban centers. Of the top 50 metros in the US, only three saw higher dollar gains in average value of an urban home compared to a suburban home over the last year.
