How Professionals Choose Where To Live
29th August 2017
The Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University just completed a national survey, fielded and tabulated by The Cicero Group, of 1,191 professionals: people aged 25-64 with household incomes greater than $80,000, and who work in education, healthcare, information technology, finance or other professional services jobs. We asked respondents to rate which general non-work factors, which educational and social non-work factors, and which work-related factors were most important to them in determining where they would want to move, assuming an attractive job opportunity presented itself. While there were some differences between different industries, the variances were relative small, in most cases.
Overall, the results surprised us by how young and middle aged professionals —who are almost uniformly said to prefer living in an edgy, dense urban environment— actually opt for far more traditional, or even banal, alternatives. Professionals are more focused on family lifestyle issues as they consider where they would want to live. While they do not want to live in a cultural wasteland, they prioritize outdoor activities, a lack of crowding and an affordable house over exciting nightlife.
Yes, I prefer to live in a neighborhood full of educated white people Just Like Me. You can take your vibrant diversity and stick it where the sun don’t shine.