The Rise of Second-Tier Cities

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the landscape of our cities in just a matter of months. Second-tier cities (or “18 hour cities”) like Austin, Charlotte, Denver, and Raleigh, are booming as people who are no longer tethered to downtown offices or are seeking more value and space look to relocate from global cities like London, New York, and San Francisco to more affordable, less dense cities that still offer culture and diversity of a larger global hub, but at a smaller scale. The Gensler Research Institute’s City Pulse Survey, which surveyed residents of four global cities, confirms this finding: over two-thirds of respondents want to leave their global city for more low-cost, smaller cities that offer a high quality of life and lower cost of living.

Our City Pulse Survey found that the pandemic was an accelerant in people’s desires to leave their global cities. One in four London and New York respondents were thinking of leaving their global cities. Of the people who said they wanted to move, many felt that the pandemic influenced their desire to move — as much as 71% in New York City.

Yet, many respondents were already thinking of leaving their global cities even before the pandemic hit. In the case of San Francisco, 76% of respondents were already thinking of leaving their cities. Generationally, 80% of Gen Xers were already contemplating moves even before lockdown.

When asked where they wanted to move to, well over two-thirds of respondents wanted to move to smaller, less populated areas such as smaller cities, the suburbs, and even rural areas. Most notably, nearly half of London respondents wanted to move to rural areas while 60% of Singapore respondents wanted to remain in an urban environment.