2024 Study: Half As Many Millennials Move as a Decade Ago. Where Are They Going?
Millennials (born 1982–2000) are entering middle age facing unexpected financial strain. Despite being top earners, they carry the second-highest level of household debt. While over half finally own homes, 16% still live with their parents.
Economic challenges peaked recently with historic mortgage rates and the worst home sales market in 28 years. Consequently, millennial mobility has plummeted; the number of moving last year was half of what it was a decade ago. To understand these shifting living situations, this study analyzes US millennial migration trends, highlighting the specific cities and states seeing the highest influx and exodus of this generation.
Key Takeaways
- 11% of millennials moved in 2023, only half as many as a decade ago
- “New or better housing” (16%), ”New job” (13%), and “Establishing own household” (11%) are the top stated reasons for millennial moves
- The share of millennials moving for “Cheaper housing” (9%) in 2023 is the highest it’s been since 2011
- Montana (+95%), Connecticut (+56%), and Maine (+54%) saw the most millennials move in, compared to moving out
- Tampa, FL (+95%) metro saw almost twice as many millennials move in versus leave
- Metros of New York, NY (-56%), San Jose, CA (-51%), and Los Angeles, CA (-40%) saw far more millennials leave versus move in
Volodymyr Kupriyanov
Volodymyr Kupriyanov (AKA "VK") is a data journalist based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He specializes in data-driven storytelling, leveraging data to create compelling, insightful stories. His stories for HireAHelper have been featured in hundreds of publications, including Business Insider, The New York Times, and Bloomberg. When not visualizing and analyzing numbers, he enjoys rock climbing, playing frisbee with his dog, and discovering new places to eat.
Why the Share of Millennials on the Move Has Almost Halved Over a Decade
Reflecting broader national moving trends, the share of millennials who moved over the last decade has declined. And this decline is rather sharp! Unlike Gen Z whose moving rate is trending upward, only 11% of millennials moved in 2023, down from 21% the decade prior (2013).
In part, such a slowdown can be a natural consequence of people settling into their life, becoming homeowners, having children, and establishing themselves in their careers. However, as various studies suggest, millennials are less likely to own a home, be married or have kids.
This is why the explanation for the declining rates of millennial moves is likely more to do with the socio-economic situation millennials find themselves in.
Housing Unaffordability
On average, aspiring first-time buyers can’t afford home ownership, due to the almost complete unaffordability of homes across the United States.
And the millennials who can afford a home are unlikely to buy (and move into) a newer home because current mortgage rates are two to three times higher than in the previous decade.
Renting
The situation in the rental market is similarly dire. While rental rates seem to have plateaued lately, they’re still 22% higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, while average earnings in the same period have risen by 3.2%, according to the U.S. Treasury.
Debt & Finances
Another factor that’s holding millennials back from moving is finances. Saddled with an enormous amount of debt (a lot of it from student loans), many millennials likely find themselves unable to afford to move, with many living paycheck to paycheck.
In last year’s HireAHelper moving survey, 58% of respondents (and 60% of millennials) who wanted to move said they had to stay put because they couldn’t afford to move. This combination of economic trends and financial forces leaves many Americans, millennials chief among them, locked into their current housing situation, unable to get onto the housing ladder — let alone move upwards.
New Homes and New Jobs: Top Reasons for Millennial Moves
So what about those millennials who did manage to relocate? The three main drivers of millennial moves in 2023, according to our analysis of the U.S. Census data, were ”Wanted new or better housing” (16%), “New job or job transfer” (13%), and “To establish own household” (11%). When it comes to moving for new jobs, millennials are the most likely generation to make such a move. Only Gen Z comes close, with 11% of their moves taking place for new jobs.
It is also for the first time since before the declaration of the COVID-19 Pandemic that job-related moves accounted for as many as 15% of all moves that they collectively made.
At the same time, a roughly equal share of millennials moved “For cheaper housing” (9%) and more explicitly, reportedly moved because they “Wanted to own a home, not rent"(9%).
To and From: Origins and Destinations of Millennial Migration
Millennials might be moving less than before, but they still account for around 1 in 5 of all moves (18%) across state lines in 2023, based on our analysis of the U.S. Census data.
Top States for Millennials
Looking at the U.S. states, Texas attracted the highest number of millennials moving out of their home state. Last year, the Lone Star state welcomed almost 400,000 millennials as new residents, which is nearly 10% of all the cross-state moves made by millennials in 2023! In terms of net moves (i.e., the ratio of those moving in, versus those moving out), the undisputed leader is Montana, where 95% more millennials moved in than left.
Four other states had around 50% more millennials move in versus out: Connecticut (+56%), Maine (+54%), Oklahoma (+53%), and New Hampshire (47%). One possible explanation for why these particular destinations were chosen is due to household income. Those making interstate moves to Maine, Connecticut, and New Hampshire had a 29% higher household income than those moving to Montana, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
| State | Net Millennial Moves | State | Net Millennial Moves | |
| Montana | 95% | New York | -52% | |
| Connecticut | 56% | California | -39% | |
| Maine | 54% | District of Columbia | -33% | |
| Oklahoma | 53% | Iowa | -31% | |
| New Hampshire | 47% | Louisiana | -29% | |
| South Carolina | 40% | Massachusetts | -28% | |
| Texas | 39% | Illinois | -25% | |
| Florida | 38% | Wisconsin | -20% | |
| Tennessee | 38% | North Dakota | -18% | |
| Arizona | 37% | Arkansas | -11% |
Bottom States for Millennials
When it comes to states millennials were most keen to leave behind, the biggest losers were New York (-52%), California (-39%), Massachusetts (-28%), and Illinois (-25%). These states, infamous for their high cost of living, lost significantly more millennials than they gained last year. The list of states millennials were more likely to leave also highlights their sensitivity to home prices; as many as 19% of millennials who left California, and 17% of those who left New York, moved to find cheaper housing — that was the highest percentage of housing cost-driven moves across all states.
Find out how popular your state was in the millennial cross-state migration using our interactive map below.
The Top Cities: Top Millennial Metro Destinations Are in Florida
Much like retirees, many millennials appear to be moving to cities and their metropolitan areas in Florida.
Top States for Millennials
More specifically, metropolitan areas around Tampa, FL (+95%) and Jacksonville, FL (+54%) – had some of the highest net gain of millennial residents in the country.
Slotting in between them is the Las Vegas, NV metro area, which saw 52% more millennials move in than leave last year. The Gen Z magnet Austin, TX was also up there, with 47% more millennials moving in versus out of the Austin area in 2023.
Bottom States for Millennials
As per the state-level findings, metro areas in New York and California are losing the most millennials. Both the New York City and San Jose, CA metros had over 50% more millennials leave than move in.Curiously, both Florida and Texas featured metros on both sides of the scale. While millennials may be flocking to metros around Tampa, FL and Austin, TX, it looks like they’re moving out of El Paso, TX and Miami, FL metros.Check out all the metros with enough move data to paint the picture in our interactive map below.
Will Millennials Move Again?
We enter 2024 with a relatively positive outlook on the economy, the real estate market, and jobs. That would suggest that if you correlate millennial migration to economic trends, as we’ve done at great length in this study, you would have to predict millennial moving could rise again soon. And for such a frequently disenfranchised generation, they can use all the good news they can get.
Sources and Methodology
All data on moves, their origins, destinations, and reasons behind them was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and its Annual Social and Economic Supplements, as available via IPUMS. All estimates and percentages are based on moves within the United States.
For this study, we adapted the definition of generations from Beresford Research which defined them based on their age in 2023 as follows:
Gen Z: 18* – 26
Millennials (Gen Y): 27 – 42
Gen X: 43 – 58
Baby Boomers: 59 – 77
Technically, Gen Z includes anyone from age 11, but our analysis only included moves made by adults.
Net gain and loss for states and metropolitan areas was calculated as follows:
# of people moving into the state or city, to
the # of people moving out of the state or city,
expressed as a percentage (%)
Illustrations by Maddy Vian
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