It’s not exactly a new observation that millennials haven’t been very aggressive when it comes to buying homes. Millennials may no longer be living with their parents, but home-ownership trends remain weak for people under 35 years old. SmartAsset has analyzed the homeownership rates among adults under age 35 in the 200 largest U.S. cities.
Of the top 200 cities analyzed, only 42 of those cities saw millennial homeownership rise. Overall, their homeownership rate is down 4.4%. While millennial homeownership is lower on average, there is another side of this trend. There are pockets where more people under the age of 35 own their homes versus those who do not.
The SmartAsset study looked at the current rate of millennial homeownership in 2017 and compared the change in the millennial homeownership rate from 2008.
Before thinking this is an issue based on home values, note that it doesn’t seem to be the only factor. The top 25 cities where millennials are buying homes have a $294,000 average median home value, and the 25 cities where millennials aren’t buying homes have an average median home value of $284,300.
The study created an index value from data taken from the Census’s American Community Surveys that combined the 2017 millennial homeownership rate from 2017 with 2018 and showed the change. While this study showed that high home values are one issue muting homeownership by younger adults, it cited other issues, like stagnant incomes, mounting student debt and what was the largest economic downturn in a century.
24/7 Wall St. wanted to focus on the positive trends of the study, where more millennials are homeowners rather than renters. Instead of using the SmartAsset index ranking, our look was solely at the housing markets with the highest absolute rates of millennial homeownership rates above 50%. It turns out that only eight housing markets out of the top 200 in America had more than 50% of people under 35 owning their homes.
Also, 24/7 Wall St. has made some basic observations about each city to offer some perspective on why homeownership might be so high among millennials. Here are the eight U.S. cities where more than 50% of millennials own their homes.
8. Gilbert, Arizona
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 51.2%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 57.0%
> Change over time: −5.7%
> Median home value: $320,000
Gilbert is still above the 50% threshold for millennial homeownership, but it also showed a larger percentage contraction from 2008. It is to the southeast of Phoenix and is a part of that metropolitan area, and it is the sixth-largest municipality in Arizona.
7. Joliet, Illinois
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 56.8%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 52.7%
> Change over time: −4.1%
> Median home value: $179,700
Joliet actually saw a drop in the homeownership rate of those under 35 years of age, but it was still well above 50%. The town is located 30 miles southwest of Chicago and is considered part of the broader Chicago sprawl. A 2018 population estimate of 150,495 people would make it the third largest city in the state. Also worth noting is that Joliet had the lowest average median home value of all eight cities where those aged 35 and under own their own home.
6. Port Saint Lucie, Florida
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 53.05%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 51.79%
> Change over time: 1.26%
> Median home value: $205,000
Located on Florida’s eastern coast, about 50 miles to the north of West Palm Beach and halfway between Miami and Orlando, Port Saint Lucie counts itself as the eighth largest city in Florida, with over 189,300 residents. It is the third largest city in South Florida. While the rate of those under 35 is above 50%, the city’s own website showed that Port Saint Lucie also had the highest homeownership rate in the nation (as of 2012) and was the only major market with a homeownership rate above 75%.
5. Olathe, Kansas
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 54.3%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 65.2%
> Change over time: −11.0%
> Median home value: $239,100
Olathe is located on the southwest side of Overland Park by Kansas City. It is Johnson County’s seat and is considered to be the fourth largest city in the Kansas City metropolitan area and Kansas. The Census data showed that its 2010 population was 125,872 people, but that was projected to have risen to 137,472 by the year 2017.
4. Chesapeake, Virginia
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 55.28%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 43.42%
> Change over time: 11.85%
> Median home value: $270,200
In the SmartAsset ranking, Chesapeake actually ranked first as the change of homeownership for those under 35 rose so it had the index rank of metro areas in its study. The City of Chesapeake also had a population estimate of 242,336 people per the city’s own estimate as of January 2018. It is located immediately west of the Virginia Beach area.
3. Peoria, Arizona
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 55.53%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 53.76%
> Change over time: 1.77%
> Median home value: $255,800
Peoria is a major suburb of Phoenix located northwest of the larger city, and its population is over 170,000, making it the sixth largest city in Arizona at the last Census count. Its Peoria Sports Complex is the spring training home for the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres baseball teams.
2. Thornton, Colorado
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 56.71%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 54.65%
> Change over time: 2.06%
> Median home value: $324,800
Any city in Colorado might bring up the question about legalized marijuana and more people moving there, but Thornton still had more than half of its people under 35 as homeowners a decade earlier. The average median home value in the area was also high. Thornton is now part of the Denver-area metroplex and is located north of the city and southeast of Boulder. Several miles to the east of Thornton is Denver International Airport.
1. Elk Grove, California
> Millennial ownership rate in 2017: 63.32%
> Millennial ownership rate in 2008: 56.09%
> Change over time: 7.23%
> Median home value: $403,400
Elk Grove is located 15 miles south of Sacramento, the state capital, and it is about 90 miles northeast of San Francisco. Its neighboring areas include Sacramento County’s Vineyard area and the rural communities of Wilton, Sloughhouse, Franklin and Rancho Murieta. Its 2015 population was listed as 162,899, and its median household income was $82,784.
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