That is exactly why in Fantasy, they say “There are exactly as many Elves as the story needs”.
(Even that doesn’t justify though, the elves apparently being in such a population crisis that the death of even one elf is enough to be considered a tragedy for the race, yet hundreds of elves regularly die in battle, and every year, the Dark Elves celebrate Murder Christmas.)
Being in the lower tier of a hive city still requires you to be a badass though. They are what Nextdoor boomers think big cities are like, but on steroids.