6th and Market, San Francisco — a less gentrified area of the city

Beyond Gentrification: Towards More Equitable Urban Growth

Since the 1970s, many core cities have experienced real turnarounds, particularly in the urban centers of our largest metro areas. Yet gentrification has often operated to the detriment of the original residents whose neighborhoods have been transformed.
suburban housing growth

The High Residential Densities of California (and “Wild Wild” Texas)

by Wendell Cox — Despite their reputation for urban sprawl, the metropolitan areas of Texas have comparatively high residential densities, while the Los Angeles urban area is actually 30 percent denser, with much smaller lots than the New York metro area.
Houston, TX HOV lane on Highway 69

Transportation Future: From Freeways to Scooters, Transit Will Get Disrupted

by Tory Gattis — In most ways, 2020 transportation in Houston will only be incrementally different from today: completion of the U.S. 290 expansion, new toll lanes on the Texas 288, the extension of the Texas 249 toll road beyond Tomball toward College Station, the next segments of the Grand Parkway 170-mile mega-loop.
Flag of Utah

California Out-Migration Intensifies, Population Moves South

by Wendell Cox — The new Census Bureau population estimates for the states have been released. The nation has experienced its slowest growth since 1938, adding only 0.6 percent to the population between 2017 and 2018...
Aerial view of Grand Rapids, Michigan

Highest 2016 Home Ownership Rate in Grand rapids, Los Angeles Last

by Wendell Cox — Home ownership is finally increasing in the United States, following the housing bust.
Boston,MA—Urban Back Bay

How Much Density is Enough?

by Randal O'Toole — Portland New Urbanist Joe Cortright has rarely seen a high-density development he didn’t like. Most recently, he argues that the reason why most most people live in suburbs is that they are forced to do so by evil zoning rules that prohibit that densities that people actually prefer.
Interstate 110 in Lost Angeles

Employment Access in US Metropolitan Areas (2017)

by Wendell Cox — Economic growth of metropolitan areas is enhanced by employment access --- the greater the number of jobs that the average worker can reach in a particular time, the better the economic performance. Recent advances in data have made it possible to measure the effectiveness of access systems in metro areas.
Gavin Newsom at Web 2.0 Summit

California Needs a New Economic Model

by Joel Kotkin — California, epitomizes what economist Thomas Piketty has aptly called “the Brahmin left,” which trades in digits, images and financial transactions. This works well for the top earners, and their offspring, but most Californians are left out of the boom.
Residential rooftop solar panels

California Must Stop Trying to Stomp Out Suburbia

by Joel Kotkin — A suburban housing recovery after the Great Recession has been hampered, in large part, by tough regulations. By 2017, California metros like Los Angeles-Orange and even the Bay Area were producing housing at lower rates than...
California Exodus

A Generation Plans an Exodus from California

by Joel Kotkin — California is the great role model for America, particularly if you read the Eastern press. Yet few boosters have yet to confront the fact that the state is continuing to hemorrhage people at a higher rate