People are trying to find stability in a unstable system. The system is unstable because of the shifts in the North America (and World) economy. With manufacturing leaving the US, and the US focusing more on the service industry, the economics of scale of the service industry favour centralization in urban areas, so thats where the jobs end up being created. If the current system stay in place for long enough, it will become stable, with multi generation families having entire cycles in a given region.
It's the same thing that happened to coal country, just in a larger scale, and slower.
Aye. If gauranteed remote was a thing I'd be out of the city -- and fast.
But RTO is still contentious, and the ability to find a job if I moved to vaguely-near-Boise would be terrible. One misstep at work, or even just another economic shift, and I'm moving again.
But I'd love to be in a smaller city. Annapolis MD, or coastal WA or deep mountains MT, whatever.
