People still want to live in the suburbs

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: For a while, it seemed like the pandemic would permanently upend our housing preferences as city-dwellers suddenly spending all their time in their apartments wanted more space, and downtowns hollowed out in some cases. But as things have gotten back up to speed (unevenly), we wondered if people’s housing preferences have shifted. Thankfully, we have a pre-pandemic data point to compare from our very first issue of What the Future in 2017.

What we found: Things haven’t shifted all that much. Two quick notes: When we asked this in 2017, it was asked of folks between 18 and 54, so we’ll just look at those groups in the comparison. Also this wave we included a “don’t know” so it’s not quite apples to apples. But we don’t see a ton of shift in the data, despite all the upheaval that happened between then and now. Just as many say they prefer a detached home in the ’burbs. There’s a slight dip in those who want to live more rurally – which follows a long-simmering trend toward urbanization. But otherwise, where we want to live hasn’t changed markedly. The bigger question, then, is can we all REACH our aspirations of how we want to live?

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

Everyone is concerned about data privacy, but the affluent are the most concerned

People want more affordable housing where they live

More plan to shop only online, but also say it’s important to shop local

The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about?