American suburbia comes loaded with preconceptions and promises, it’s a haven for loitering, bored teens in strip malls and a hell for road-rage-filled drivers hunting for deals and hot dogs in Costco parking lots. The locale has shifted from the idyllic 1950s perfection of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “I Love Lucy” to the quiet and repressive villain in more recent fare like “Twin Peaks” or any Todd Solondz movie. One of the starkest depictions may have been in “The Good Place,” where a suburban development was (spoiler alert) revealed to be designed by an actual demon experimenting with a new circle of hell.
For eight years now, as millennials have entered their 30s and 40s, also known as “homebuying age,” Bank of America has surveyed over 1,000 members of the generation once a year for its “Home Work” series. And for 2023’s edition, it finds a “suburban nation” alive and well. Older millennials (age 31-41) are almost three times as likely to move into a house than an apartment, the survey found, and they’ve got a hunger for the Costco dog, so to speak.
