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Americans are still moving away from the biggest cities across the country, continuing a trend that began with the rise of remote work during the pandemic, according to a new report analyzing Census data by analysts at Goldman Sachs (GS).

Counties in the highest tier of urbanization, in or near cities with 1 million or more residents, recorded average population growth about 1% below pre-pandemic levels from 2019 through mid-2023, the analysts noted.

While those counties had "started experiencing modest net domestic out-migration of about 200k on average in the three years leading up to the pandemic," the analysts wrote, an estimated 750,000, 650,000, and 550,000 domestic migrants left the biggest U.S. cities in each of 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively.

The report said that stronger population growth outside the largest urban counties has meant somewhat faster house-price appreciation relative to pre-pandemic trends when compared with the most urban counties.

The post-pandemic migration trend is likely connected to changes in housing preferences—more people say in surveys that they would prefer larger, more spread-out homes—though the trend toward larger homes is longstanding in the U.S.

Thanks to the rise of remote work arrangements during the pandemic, millions of Americans fled large cities for other areas with lower costs of living, and new Census data discloses that that trend hasn't slowed or reversed to the degree many thought it would after pandemic restrictions were lifted.

After nearing 50% of Americans working remotely at the height of the pandemic, the level has plateaued to the mid-20% range, yet still about 10 times as high as the 2% to 3% of Americans who did so before the pandemic.

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Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office took on new positions in Apple Inc. (AAPL), Reddit Inc. (RDDT), and a range of biotech and financial services companies in the first quarter of the year, according to a recent 13-F filing.

Druckenmiller took a very active approach in the first months of the year, entering more than three dozen new positions. His bets on Apple and Reddit are most noteworthy because of the attention investors pay to the companies themselves, though the size of each position is relatively small. Druckenmiller ended the quarter with almost 115,000 shares of Apple and 175,000 shares of Reddit.

Large new holdings for Druckenmiller include semiconductor maker Coherent Corp. (COHR) with about 2.5 million shares; energy infrastructure firm Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) with roughly 3.88 million shares; scoreboard and LED sign maker Daktronics Inc. (DAKT) with 2.07 million shares; and Cinemark Holdings Inc. (CNK) with 1.07 million shares.

Druckenmiller added a number of biotech firms to his portfolio this last quarter, with new investments in Bicycle Therapeutics PLC (BCYC), Cabaletta Bio Inc. (CABA), Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CRNX), Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (FUSN), and Sana Biotechnology Inc. (SANA), among others.

Another batch of new positions lies within the financial services sector. Druckenmiller added stakes in Barclays PLC (BCS), Capital One Financial Corp. (COF), Citigroup Inc. (C), Discover Financial Services (DFS), and KeyCorp (KEY) all in the first three months of the year. The KeyCorp position was 1.66 million shares.

Other notable new additions to Druckenmiller's portfolio included Stellantis (STLA) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR), as well as a small positions in Meta Platforms (META).

The billionaire protégé of George Soros made significant additions to a number of prior positions in his portfolio.

Most notably, he added nearly 5 million shares of database software company ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI), more than 1 million shares of genetic testing firm Natera Inc. (NTRA), and about 2.8 million shares of electronics maker Flex Ltd. (FLEX).

He also added to his positions in Marvell Technologies (MRVL) and Freeport-Mcmoran (FCX).

Duquesne Family Office adjusted the size of many of its preexisting holdings in the first quarter. Notably, Druckenmiller trimmed his position in Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) by about 900,000 shares, ending March with about 176,000 shares.

Earlier this month, he told CNBC about paring his Nvidia position as felt that the AI trend was "a little overhyped now, but underhyped long term."

Duquesne also sold off almost 483,000 shares of uranium producer Cameco Corp. (CCJ), and large portions of his stakes in Option Care Health Inc. (OPCH) and Eli Lilly (LLY), among others.

Druckenmiller's exits for the quarter include DraftKings Inc. (DKNG), Warby Parker Inc. (WRBY), and mining outfits Barrick Gold Corp. (GOLD) and Newmont Corp. (NEM). He also entirely sold off the small positions he held in Adobe (ADBE) , Chevron (CVX), UBS (UBS) and Charles Schwab (SCHW).

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