For a number of reasons, many workers have migrated from larger cities into ostensibly greener pastures considered to be less developed, or suburban. Residents informally call their communities the burbs. Life in the burbs is often preferable to the crime-ridden inner city, although many original city planners envisioned a different type of planned communities within city limits. The burbs were only supposed to function as bedroom communities for the city's workers, not necessarily a self-supporting city in miniature.

Life in the burbs can be very interesting, especially if the community is located near a major metropolis such as New York City or San Francisco. Residents of the burbs benefit from all of the economic growth of a major city, without the accompanying growing pains, traffic or housing expense. Those in the burbs can choose to commute to the city for higher salaries, but live in an underdeveloped area with a lower cost of living.

The burbs also provide young married couples with better options for raising a family. Planned communities in the burbs often provide recreational areas and easily accessible retail spaces for grocery stores and other needed services. Schools in the burbs may not face the same problems of discipline, funding or location as public schools in the city. A number of planned communities located in the burbs deliberately include school buildings as part of the growing process. When the population of the burbs becomes sufficient to sustain a school, the school usually appears.

Life in the burbs can be a mixed bag for some residents, however. Although the crime rate in most burbs is dramatically lower than the cities they serve, the burbs are not crime-free. If the city begins to experience economic growth, its borders may spread further and further towards the burbs. Some areas of the country which used to be consider burbs are now large cities, complete with large city governments and large city problems. Life in the burbs can either remain the same for years, or it may change dramatically within a year.

As the burbs continue to develop into their own legal entities, some residents consider moving even farther away from the city limits. Semi-rural and rural plots of land have become hot ticket items for those who seek even more privacy than the burbs can supply. Over time, these areas could become the burbs of the burbs. To control this exodus, many political leaders who live in the burbs work very hard to control the threat of urban sprawl. People who work in the city relocate to the burbs for a reason, and many suburban governments resist the temptation to merge their identity with that of the city they help to feed.