[Photo Provided by Matthew Spriggs]

New Orleans Named #5 U.S. City for Millennials

14:32 June 07, 2017
By: Matthew Spriggs

The Big Easy makes for easy living when it comes to millennials seeking better opportunities. The city that care forgot isn't forgotten at all it seems. Young go-getters seeking affordability, opportunity, and lots of fun seem to be finding it right here in New Orleans. Discovering a new unique lifestyle filled with culture, food, and music. It's a testament to the very things that make this city so diverse and progressive.

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are composed of the demographic contingent following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this group starts or ends, but demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years. Millennials, who are generally the children of baby boomers and older Gen Xers, are sometimes referred to also as "Echo Boomers" due to a major surge in birth rates in the 1980s and 1990s. Millennials are currently the country's largest demographic, so almost all of the choices millennials make have a tremendous ripple effect on the country as a whole. But, the biggest question many millennials are facing today is where to live.

New Orleans Named #5 U.S. City for Millennials
[Photo Provided by Matthew Spriggs]


For most millennials, the location needs to be affordable, have ample opportunities for professional growth, and shouldn't be too "boring." But with most millennials strapped with college debt and mostly entry-level job opportunities, affordability has become the top selling point, and moving trends indicate that more and more millennials are relocating to smaller cities around America, thus forgoing bigger cities like New York and Los Angeles.

With their special insight into this complex demographic, website Uproxx has curated a list of the top ten cities that have received a significant bump in millennials moving in. The list may surprise you:

  1. Hampton Roads, VA - The metro area with the biggest growth (16.4 %) was the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News area known as Hampton Roads. Great beaches and low cost of living.
  2. Richmond, VA - The former capital of the South saw a 14.9 percent increase in millennials. Richmond has that small town aesthetic while still feeling like a big city. It's also just below the overall US average for cost of living, which helps explain the city's draw.
  3. Inland Empire, CA - Riverside and the Inland Empire to the east of Los Angeles saw an 11.7 percent increase in their Millennial population. Millennials there can save some cash while still being in striking distance of one of America's biggest cultural and metropolitan centers.
  4. Memphis, TN - An affordable place to live with a great music at the crossroads of the American South and the Midwest, Memphis saw a 9.5 % increase in millennials since 2010.
  5. New Orleans, LA - NOLA had an 8.5 % increase in millennials. But it's easy to see why - it's a party town with awesome food, music and culture that's steadily becoming more progressive.
  6. Austin, TX - Austin has experienced the same uptick in millennials as Pittsburgh. The city is famous for its iconic music and food scenes, hot summers, and surrounding Travis County natural wonders.
  7. Pittsburgh, PA - Pittsburgh saw slightly higher growth than Baltimore and Boston, with a 6.6 % in their millennial population. Cheap(er) housing, awesome nightlife, and an intense sports atmosphere no doubt help prop-up Pittsburgh as an attractive city to live in.
  8. Baltimore Metropolitan Area, MD - Between Fell's Point to a arts district to the awesome wooden 'runs' on the outskirts of the city — Baltimore is a great place to get a footing in life.
  9. Boston, MA - Boston has seen a 6.5 % increase. This university heavy town has always had a fairly young population. It also has a deep historical feel and one of the best bar scenes in America.
  10. Miami, FL - Miami has seen a 6.4 % increase of millennials since 2010. And it's not hard to see why, Miami has beaches, parties, art-deco culture, and the best Cubanos going.
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