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What’s Driving Uptick in Reverse Commutes?
The trend of living within urban centers is increasing, though it is creating an unexpected situation. According to JLL’s newest Ambitious Thinking research on Smart Cities called “Live, Work, Play?,” urban jobs are not necessarily following as fast, and that’s drastically increased the number of people enduring the daily slog of a reverse commute.
JLL’s Jonathan Geanakos says, “The ‘live, work, play’ lifestyle remains an aspiration for many highly-educated Millennials in the market today, despite investment strategies which are being fueled by this mixing of uses. Today’s workforce is increasingly opting to live in urban areas, but their jobs may, in fact, be elsewhere. As employers catch up to investors, this will continue to present opportunities for urban-centric strategies for more investors in more markets.”
More than 4.8 million people in the top 25 regions studied by JLL commute from central cities to suburban jobs, with an average reverse commuting rate of 46%. Compared to 2011, the number of workers making that reverse commute is up 11.6% in major markets overall, including Denver (21.9% increase), Phoenix (18.5%), San Jose (14.6%) and Boston (14.3%).
JLL also found not all cities are created equal when it comes to attracting highly-educated talent. Research showed that more than 50% of the growth in the highly-educated population in central cities from 2008-2016 occurred in just six large cities: New York (365,000), Los Angeles (189,000), Chicago (162,000), Houston (119,000), Philadelphia (109,000) and Seattle (93,000).
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
