Written by: Isaac Grant
Date:
Category: Moving statistics

There is a notion nowadays that Millennials are the future of our country. Recently, they seem to have become a predominant workforce, shaping the face of many cities and places they go to – and no one knows this better than professional movers! You probably have heard of the phrase a lot yourself. But have you ever stopped to wonder what it really means, and who Millennials are? Today, we are looking into the popular Millenial trends connected to the moving industry. Where educated Millennials are moving? What attracts them to the cities and which degrees they have with them? Find out in this article!

The definition of a Millennial

There is a lot of disagreements when it comes to separating Millennials from other generations. This is because there is no clear line or border to these Gens, so people can easily fall into one of the two adjacent demographics. Usually, though, Millennials are the people born in the early 1980s all the way up to mid-1990s and even 2000s. The widely accepted definition puts Millennials from 1981 to 1996.

This demographic fallow Generation X closely, and thus earns its other name – Generation Y. Obviously, it is closely followed by Generation Z – and many people born on the fridges of the Gen Y borders often identify themselves in other generations. Sometimes, people call Millennials “echo boomers”, because there has been a surge in birth rates in the 1980s and 1990s. The second reason is that Millennials themselves are the children of baby boomers. And even though there might be differences in how you grow up and who you are as a person, one of the major common characteristics of Millennials is that they were coming of age in the Information Age, which makes them find their way easily with technology and social media.

Are big cities really where educated Millennials are moving to?

We have finally come to the age where Millennials are out of college and looking for work. And since they are about to outnumber the baby boomers, there is a huge debate about what type of work Millennials are ready for. Wherever they go, though, they seem to cause controversy. Just go to any bigger city and talk to someone from Gen X or earlier, and they will talk about those kids on their electric scooters.

But where educated Millennials are moving to for real is still unanswered. Is this really the case in every city, or are people complaining about naught? Well, Census Bureau actually did a research on this topic, and they say one part of this notion is true. There really are a lot of young people moving into the bigger cities. For example, in 2017 in San Francisco, one in five people had a college diploma and was younger than 34. This is 20% and it’s quite a staggering number. However, this is not even on the top of the Census Bureau’s list:

This, however, is not always the case. When looking into where educated Millennials are moving, these might be only the most popular cities. Across the whole country, Millennials with a degree make up only 6.4% of the population. They also make up 9.3% of the population in the 100 biggest cities in the country. This excludes Manhattan, where educated Millennials make up 19.5% of its population – because New York City as a whole has 11.5% of the educated Millennial population.

How this can help you figure out where educated Millennials are moving

It is always great to examine the rates and trends of where educated Millennials are moving – as well as people of different age groups, too. That way, you can easily decide where you would like to move, seeing just how popular a city is among your age group. What’s more, these lists can tell you that there is something attractive in these cities. After all, there must be a reason why so many Millennials are flocking there, right?

Of course, they can be useful to find some Millennial hidden gems, too! We all know that San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Portland, and Somerville-Cambridge are quite popular, but you can notice other ones, too! For example, Hoboken, Jersey City, and similar New Jersey cities have always been a cheaper alternative to Manhattan. However, it is quite possible you did not know just how popular they are!

There are also some places you might not even know about! For example, Fremont, Mountain View or Irvine don’t sound like Millennial hotspots, but they actually are because of their apartment buildings and good jobs nearby. And of course, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh are famous – but who could have told just how many educated Millennials called them home?

Another thing you can also take into account is just how fast a city is growing in its population. For example, here we have a list of cities with their change from 2005 to 2017, in percentage points, based on a Census Bureau research:

What we can pull from this is that San Francisco, for example, has always been popular with the Millennials. However, Jersey City and Pittsburgh are climbing up on that list quite fast – and might even easily become some of the most popular places where educated Millennials are moving very soon!

Conclusion

To conclude, there is a lot that we can learn about where educated Millennials are moving to. If you belong to Generation Y and you are looking for a home – then these cities might be a great choice. Otherwise, we should look into what makes them so popular among the age group. Figuring out the trends of the movements of our educated youth is always important – because it follows the progress of the country. Finally, on a personal note, it makes it easy to decide whether you want to be a part of this crowd and not – and call your movers to deal with it in advance!