I'm a bit skeptical of the age grouping. 25-54 is a very wide range, and I would assume cities have more 25-year-olds, whereas the countryside will have more 54-year-olds.
Wealth is a proxy for better healthcare, diet and education.
City people are generally richer and walk more.
Rural residents are poorer and drive everywhere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Butz#Secretary_of_Agricul...
(It's possible to still have viable family farms in 2024, but it requires a willingness to have both (a) economic inefficiencies, and (b) legislative restrictions; although the Home of the Brave might be willing to implement a similar program, the Land of the Free is certainly not)
Would that be true?
For the same total population on each (say, 1M in cities vs 1M in the countryside) I'd expect the countryside to have higher birth rates and younger marrying couples, so younger demographics. Whereas cities have more career focused people, who marry later (if ever), have less kids, and have them at a greater age.
So 18+ (heading-to-college-and-after) leave their rural homes and rarely go back. Even if they manage to go to a local university, schooling leads to a niche job in some /other/ city far away from home.
Not only that, but agricultural jobs have been dwindling for decades.
Anecdotally, (before my time) my high school used to shut down in the middle of spring so all the teenagers could harvest tobacco. These days that's just grandpa on a giant harvester.
One would think so, but then you read things like:
"Do Americans live where they grew up? At 68%, the majority polled answered yes, they live in or near the city where they grew up. People most often stay in the same town to be with their family, while those who move typically move for work. The data shows that these two reasons are the biggest factors in moving. It’s interesting to compare the current data to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 study results. A few years ago, 75% of women stayed in their hometowns, compared to 68% of men. Those numbers have flipped, according to our 2022 survey."
Is that statistically true? Most small and rural towns I know of a lot of people feel or are stuck when they're young.
People often want to raise kids in the type of environment they grew up in.
Work or studies overcome this, but as you write, especially with kids, getting a bit older folks somehow remember positives of their childhood and revert, if work allows it. WFH gained wider acceptance due to covid helped massively, I still hope self-driving cars/pooled ai taxis will cover the rest in few years.
Thats literally a continuous trillion dollar business, and compared to many big name corps popular here this would tremendously positively help so many people.
IIRC some psychological research found out we humans can adapt to almost any situation, positive or negative, and over time revert to our original selves and level of happiness coming from our own existence (that's why joy from ie new toy fizzles away so quickly not only in kids). But folks seem to not do that for 2 items even after time passes - pets you actually enjoy (consistent positive energy) and long daily commutes where life tickles away and you are stuck doing nothing worthwhile for your life (the opposite).