State of Metropolitan Cities

The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program (led by Bruce Katz) has just released its The State of Metropolitan America report (full pdf). The report builds on eight years of the Census Bureau’s American Community Surveys; and includes a spiffy State of Metropolitan America Indicator Map of changes in population indicators at state, metropolitan, and suburban levels.  

Some interesting findings:

• America's suburbs are now more likely to be home to minorities, the poor and a rapidly growing older population as many younger, educated whites move to cities for jobs and shorter commutes.
• Two-thirds of primary cities in large metropolitan areas grew from 2000 to 2008
• For the first time in several decades, the population is growing at a faster rate than households, due to delays in marriage, divorce and births as well as longer life spans. People living alone and nonmarried couple families are among the fastest-growing in suburbs.
  

For additional finding on

• Population and Migration
• Two-thirds of primary cities in large metropolitan areas grew from 2000 to 2008
• Race and Ethnicity
• For the first time, a majority of all racial/ethnic groups in large metro areas live in the suburbs.
• Immigration
• Ten states, led by Arizona, surpass the nation in a "cultural generation gap" in which the senior populations are disproportionately white and children are mostly minority.
• Age
• Households and Families
• Educational Attainment
• Work
• Poverty and Income
• The suburban poor grew by 25 percent between 1999 and 2008 — five times the growth rate of the poor in cities. City residents are more likely to live in "deep" poverty, while a higher share of suburban residents have incomes just below the poverty line.
• Commuting
• Policy Implications