Realtor.com: Not Every Market Is a No-Go for Millennials

Millennial homebuyers are struggling against a tide of too-high prices—but not in every market.

Realtor.com®’s recently released Top Cities for Millennials ranks the markets with double the draw for millennials: (relatively) affordable housing and employment. The top 10:

1. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Miami, Fla.
3. Orlando, Fla.
4. Seattle, Wash.
5. Houston, Texas
6. Los Angeles, Calif.
7. Buffalo, N.Y.
8. Albany, N.Y.
9. San Francisco, Calif.
10. San Jose, Calif.

Aside from being twice as nice, the markets in the ranking already have tracts of millennial residents, setting them up as home-buying hot spots.

“High job growth in markets such as Orlando, Seattle, and Miami, and the power of affordability in places like Albany and Buffalo, are making these markets magnets for millennials,” says Javier Vivas, manager of Economic Research for realtor.com. “But what really stands out is that all these markets already have large numbers of millennials, which translates into strong populations of millennial homebuyers.”

Breaking down the top 10:

1. Salt Lake City
   

Millennial Hot Spot: Sugar House
Millennial Share of Population: 15.8 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 30 percent
Unemployment Rate: 2.9 percent

2. Miami
   

Millennial Hot Spots: South Beach, Wynwood
Millennial Share of Population: 13.1 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 49 percent
Unemployment Rate: 5.1 percent

3. Orlando
   

Millennial Hot Spot: Thornton Park
Millennial Share of Population: 14.6 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 34 percent
Unemployment Rate: 4.4 percent

4. Seattle
   

Millennial Hot Spots: Belltown, Capitol Hill
Millennial Share of Population: 15.2 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 35.6 percent
Unemployment Rate: 4.2 percent

5. Houston
   

Millennial Hot Spots: The Heights, Oak Forest, Timbergrove
Millennial Share of Population: 14.5 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 36.1 percent
Unemployment Rate: 5.4 percent

6. Los Angeles
   

Millennial Hot Spot: Silver Lake
Millennial Share of Population: 15 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 64.1 percent
Unemployment Rate: 4.7 percent

7. Buffalo
   

Millennial Hot Spots: Buffalo, North Buffalo
Millennial Share of Population: 13.4 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 22.7 percent
Unemployment Rate: 5.6 percent

8. Albany
   

Millennial Hot Spot: Downtown Albany
Millennial Share of Population: 12.7 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 27.3 percent
Unemployment Rate: 4.5 percent

9. San Francisco
   

Millennial Hot Spots: Mission, North Beach
Millennial Share of Population: 15 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 56.2 percent
Unemployment Rate: 3.7 percent

10. San Jose
    

Millennial Hot Spot: Downtown San Jose
Millennial Share of Population: 14.2 percent
Share of Income Spent on Housing: 53 percent
Unemployment Rate: 3.7 percent

Salt Lake City takes the lead in the top 10 for not only having the highest millennial share in its population (15.8 percent), but also having the third most affordable housing costs as a share of income (30 percent) and the lowest unemployment rate (2.9 percent). Seattle (15.2 percent) and San Francisco (15 percent) have similarly high shares of millennials in their populations.

Albany and Buffalo, on the other hand, win when it comes to affordability, with Buffalo’s housing costs taking up the lowest share of income (22.7 percent) and Albany taking up the second lowest (27.3 percent).

Seattle and San Francisco round out the top three for their low unemployment rates, both at 3.7 percent.

For more information, please visit www.realtor.com.

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