- 41% of Downtown residents are Millennials (roughly, ages 20-36); a greater share of the population of Kansas City, Mo., or the metropolitan KC area
- Downtown KC’s Millennial population is very comparable to our U.S. peer cities
- 74% of all Downtown residents are younger than Baby Boomers (ages 53-71)
- Downtown has the highest job density in the metropolitan area with more than 81,000 jobs, as of 2015. Given that, less than 1 percent of the city’s landmass generates 27 percent of its employment opportunities.
- Employees in Downtown collectively earn more than $3.5 billion in total annual wages; in earning tax alone, that amounts to $35 million in revenue to the city annually
Downtown employment needs a lot of work. 80Ks is rather low compared to the over 100K that was reported 15+ years ago. Downtown office vacancy is improving mostly due to office/residential conversions outside small companies moving in here and there (and Feds). DT job growth could continue a slow pace if office developers don't step up to the plate with spec building and/or if larger suburban employers looking to move ignore downtown. If DST sale hits jobs hard, hitting 100K employment downtown could take a while.
More retail is needed too but that should grow naturally as the residential growth pace is decent enough. What will it take to grow downtown jobs w/out incentives?