There’s more to Millennials than brunches and air fryers. In recent years, many have decided to settle down and buy homes. In fact, approximately 5.3 million Millennials became homeowners in just five years, which marks a 74% increase in Millennial-owned households. At the same time, the number of Millennial renters in the U.S. rose by a modest 5%, adding approximately 600,000 households. This brings the total number of Millennial homeowner households to 12.4 million, close to the 12.6 million Millennial renter households.

To better understand Millennial renting and owning trends across the U.S., we analyzed 107 metro areas with the largest Millennial household populations, highlighting those with the most significant gains in owning and renting.

Where are Millennials buying or renting?

After first crossing the homeowner-majority threshold three years ago, Millennials (also known as Gen Y) now clearly show a preference for certain homebuying hotspots. Specifically, sunny metro areas in Florida and California top the list of regions with the most significant increases in Millennial homeownership, led by North Port, FL, where the number of Millennial homeowners nearly tripled.

Interestingly, major urban hubs, like San Antonio and Miami, also made the top 20, each experiencing a twofold increase in Millennial homeowners in just five years. Meanwhile, New York stands out with a remarkable 90% surge in Millennial homeownership in the same period.

The number of Gen Y renters is also growing, but at a much slower pace. In this case, Orlando, FL, experienced the largest rise in Millennial renters during this timeframe, while California’s Los Angeles, San Jose and Oxnard also ranked among the metro areas with the most significant increases.

Overall, in about three out of four metro areas (83 of the 107 metro areas included in this report), there are more Millennial homeowners than renters.

The areas with the highest shares of Millennial homeowners typically feature strong income growth for this generation’s workers (up to 52% across five years) and manageable local price growth, which remained below the 20% threshold. To that end, Grand Rapids, MI — along with Ogden and Provo in Utah — top the list, with Millennial homeownership rates ranging from 67% to 69%.

Why did Florida and California see the highest gains in Millennial homeowners?

The areas that saw the most significant increases in Millennials buying homes are medium or small-sized metro areas in Florida and California. What do all of these places have in common? More affordable home prices, manageable inflation, strong income growth and a higher quality of life.

Additionally, these smaller metros have benefitted from the pandemic-driven migration patterns in which Millennials moved away from dense, costly major cities driven by remote work opportunities and the need for more physical space.

First on the list is North Port, FL, where the number of Millennials who bought a home nearly tripled between in five years. Located on Florida’s west coast, the North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton metro continues to attract new residents seeking a higher quality of life, ranking among the fastest-growing areas in the U.S.

Next is Lakeland, FL, which saw a 141% increase in Millennial homeowners. Its prime location — offering easy access to both Orlando and Tampa — is one of the key factors behind the shift. By 2023, the metro area had more Millennials who owned homes than rented, a reversal of the situation in 2018.

In third place is Jacksonville, FL, where the number of Millennial households more than doubled in five years. Plus, Millennial income growth here was well above local inflation, helping Jacksonville cross the threshold of 100,000 Millennial homeowners.

Interestingly, large metro areas — like San Antonio, Miami, Philadelphia and New York — also made the list with Millennial homeownership growth rates ranging from 89% to 106%. Here, too, the diversity of job opportunities as well as healthy income gains for Millennials and manageable local price increases have made it possible and worthwhile for Millennials to buy homes, even if outside of the city cores. In fact, access to a variety of neighborhoods with different price points has helped Millennials to settle down in these areas.

Moreover, local governments in these areas offer financial support to encourage homeownership. For instance, Philadelphia offers grants to help first-time homebuyers with the down payment, in addition to tax abatements for new construction and extensive renovations, which encourages the purchase of older homes.

Similarly, Miami and San Antonio also offer assistance to first-time homebuyers for the down payment, as well as support through various neighborhood and community initiatives.

Top locations for Millennial homeowners

Millennials found homeownership success in smaller metro areas across Utah and the Midwest thanks to a combination of favorable factors, including more affordable prices. The highest concentrations of Millennial homeowners are in small and mid-sized metro areas, led by Grand Rapids, MI, where more than two-thirds of Millennials own a home.

Close behind is Ogden, UT, with a similar share, while Provo, UT — ranking third — boasts a 67% homeownership rate among Gen Y residents. Not far behind are Minneapolis; Boise, ID; and Detroit, where six out of 10 Millennials are homeowners.

All of these destinations combine healthy income growth for Millennials, local inflation below 20% and strong employment, thereby enabling young households to swap rent checks for mortgage payments years earlier than the national average.

Millennial rentership keeps growing, with Florida leading the way

While Millennial homeownership saw solid gains, this generation’s rentership also increased. More precisely, the number of Gen Y renter households rose by 5% to claim more than 12.6 million. Zooming in, the top metro areas for Millennial rentership growth are all in Florida. Leading the way is Orlando with a 34% increase in five years. It's followed by Lakeland (33%), Cape Coral (27%), Palm Bay (27%) and Miami (27%).

Not to be outdone, tech hubs like Austin, TX; New York and San Jose, CA, are also among the areas with the highest growth in Millennial renters — between 17% and 23%. While these increases may be driven, in part, by younger Millennials relocating for professional opportunities, all three cities are already well-established renter hubs with more than half of their Millennial populations renting. For example, two-thirds of Millennials living in San Jose are renters.

Top locations for Millennial renters

Speaking of well-established renter hubs, Los Angeles tops the list as the U.S. metro with the highest concentration of Millennial renters: Seven out of 10 Millennials in the city are renters. Next are San Jose, CA, and San Diego, where 66% and 64% of Millennials rent, respectively. New York and San Francisco follow, each with Millennial rentership rates above 60%.

Other metro areas where most Millennials are living in rentals are Las Vegas; Seattle; Boston; Modesto, CA; and Fresno, CA.

Check out the share of Millennial homeowners and renters in your area, as well as other relevant local data points:

Methodology

RentCafe.com is a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent throughout the U.S.

The Millennial generation was defined as per Pew Research Center data (individuals born between 1981 and 1996). The ownership and rentership data, as well as Millennial income growth, were sourced from IPUMS. Only metro areas with a Millennial household population higher or equal to 50,000 in 2023 were considered (107 metro areas).

IPUMS is an abbreviation for Integrated Public Use Microdata Series and provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. IPUMS is a part of the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation at the University of Minnesota. IPUMS USA, University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org.

Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Matthew Sobek, Daniel Backman, Grace Cooper, Julia A. Rivera Drew, Stephanie Richards, Renae Rodgers, Jonathan Schroeder and Kari C.W. Williams. IPUMS USA: Version 16.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2025. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V16.0

Job growth data was provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while local inflation data was sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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