High paid, "white collar" work is shifting to a remote/hybrid structure, or are paid enough that they can move to reduce commute. However, lower paid, service-oriented jobs require physical presence in the workplace. The increasing affordability gap for housing means these people have to live further and further away from their workplace.
The effect you described is most certainly real, there's just other pressures to consider.
So we stay, I do hybrid/flex and only come in about half the time.
My spouse and I make about 300-350k combined. Our mortgage is $1350/month. We're not moving.
I don't think the quoted sentence is true anymore. Maybe a few years ago, and before covid, not anymore. People aren't moving.
I use this phrase a lot of times: "money buys options" (not the securities kind)
Our society had a huge opportunity to make a huge dent in vehicle usage too without waiting for public transit to catch up. We messed it up because commercial RE.
I’m living in rural NY thanks to remote work. The US is spread wide and I don’t think emulating Europe will work in the case of US.