Best places for millennials to live? North Carolina home to two of them, report finds

Simone Jasper
·2 min read
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North Carolina is home to two of the most attractive places for millennials to call home, a new report finds.

The Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan areas rank among the nation’s hot spots for people in their mid-20s to early-40s, according to results that the real estate website CommercialCafe published May 10.

To create the list of best places for millennials to live and work, CommercialCafe said it studied data from more than 100 U.S. metros, dividing them into two groups according to their population size. Then, using data from the federal government, analysts determined how each place fared when it came to population trends, costs of living, jobs and educational attainment.

The Raleigh area was named one of the best places in the country for millennials.
The Raleigh area was named one of the best places in the country for millennials.

Raleigh-Cary made its mark when it came to large metros, defined as having over 1 million residents. The Raleigh area ranked No. 7 after it was found to have one of the highest jumps in millennial residents from 2017 to 2021.

“While the city boasted top educational attainment and local career opportunities, the millennial incomes remained modest in comparison to other top 10 large metros,” CommercialCafe wrote in its report. “To that end, Raleigh finished seventh in terms of income with millennials earning a median of $89,357.”

In the report, Raleigh-Cary also got a nod for having one of the lowest costs of living compared to the national average, though many renters in the Triangle have struggled to make ends meet, The News & Observer reported in January.

Also making it into the top 10 was nearby Durham-Chapel Hill, which landed at No. 6 among mid-sized metros — defined as having at least a half-million residents. Like the Raleigh metro, it was recognized for having several top-notch universities and being home to one of the highest percentages of millennials with bachelor’s degrees.

The Durham area received a high score for having a large portion of residents ages 25 to 39.
The Durham area received a high score for having a large portion of residents ages 25 to 39.

“While Durham-Chapel Hill had the lowest overall median millennial earnings in the top 10 (mid-sized) metros, it made up some of those lost points due to its relative affordability,” the report said. “Another metric that contributed to the metro’s tally was the area’s fifth-place finish for its 7.2% rise in residents from this age group among the metro’s overall population.”

When metros from the two population sizes are combined, Raleigh-Cary ranks No. 6 and Durham-Chapel Hill lands at No. 18. Further down the list are Charlotte metro at No. 19, Fayetteville at No. 69, Winston-Salem at No. 83 and Greensboro at No. 90.

The results were shared after places in the Triangle recently ranked among the nation’s best destinations for people of various age groups, including new college graduates, Generation Z and retirees.

Overall, the top-ranking large metro for millennials was San Jose, California. Among mid-sized metros, the No. 1 location was Des Moines, Iowa, results show.

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