[breeny592]

I'd propose a hypothesis that yes it does, for a couple of main reasons:

1. Concentration of job market - a lot of industries only exist (or at least, in a large enough volume) in the larger cities (e.g. financial services, tech). I'd say this is largely coupled to the location of higher education, where there is (relatively) less tertiary education once you leave the major cities.

2. Desirability of location - infrastructure and general "way of life" tends to lead people to wanting a more coastal existence. Australia didn't have the boom of city development in our regional centres, look at towns that are considered large in rural Australia, and they barely compare to even the outer suburbs of the major cities.

As much as our deputy Prime Minister would argue "just move to the country", it's not a realistic statement without addressing massive shortcomings in the long term planning of our rural areas.