After slipping out of the top five for the first time in 2023, Austin has redeemed itself and reclaimed its position as the No. 1 magnet city for millennials on the move in 2024. That’s according to a new study by commercial real estate platform CommercialCafe.
The report analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey to determine the millennial population change from 2018 to 2022 across 105 metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 residents. Millennials were defined as individuals who were between the ages of 22 to 37 in 2018, and those between 26 to 41 years old in 2022.
Austin led the nation as the most highly sought-after city, with the share of millennials growing by nearly 16 percent from 2018 to 2022. Millennials in 2022 made up 27.3 percent of the entire city’s population, or 673,000 residents, according to CommercialCafe’s findings.
“The Texas metro area has long been synonymous with sustained growth, expanding both in size and career opportunities alongside the millennial generation,” the report’s author wrote.
The report says millennials can find a “balanced lifestyle between income and living expenses” while living in Austin, as the average income for a millennial household comes out to $131,250 a year.
“The city also hosts the third-largest concentration of highly educated millennials, who benefit from its renowned educational institutions and thriving tech industry’s demand for skilled talent,” the report said.
A separate SmartAsset report from 2022 first put Austin in the coveted No. 1 spot for millennials on the move, but the Texas Capitol slipped down to No. 9 in 2023.
Notably, Austin also secured the No. 1 spot in CommercialCafe’s analysis of the top 10 metros for millennials in the South. Rounding out the top five southern metros, in order, are: Raleigh, North Carolina; Huntsville, Alabama; Fayetteville, Arkansas; and Nashville, Tennessee.
Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas ranked No. 38 out of all 105 metro areas in the report, followed by San Antonio (No. 50), Houston (No. 56), El Paso (No. 92), and McAllen (No. 102).
The top 10 U.S. metros for millennials are:
- No. 1 – Austin, Texas
- No. 2 – San Jose, California
- No. 3 – Raleigh, North Carolina
- No. 4 – Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- No. 5 – Huntsville, Alabama
- No. 6 – Ogden, Utah
- No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
- No. 8 – Salt Lake City, Utah
- No. 9 – Fayetteville, Arkansas
- No. 10 – Des Moines, Idaho
The full report can be found on commercialcafe.com.
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Written by Amber Heckler for CultureMap | Austin
