Millennials: Living in Your Own Place

Millennials are known as the generation that never leaves home. This isn’t a knock on them, per se. Rather, these living conditions are a reflection of high housing costs and slim job prospects.

However, not all millennials are stuck living at home, or with roommates. Some are able to get their own place.

As many as 15% of them do, according to a new analysis from online real estate firm Zillow.

Zillow ranked American cities based on millennial housing prospects – specifically based on how many young people live alone.

Richmond, Virginia came out on top, with 15% of the millennials in that city living alone. This is helped by the relatively high median annual income, $49,500, that is enjoyed by Richmond millennials.

This was followed by Pittsburgh and Buffalo, N.Y., each of which had 14% rates.

In Oklahoma City, Zillow said, 13% of millennials live on their own, with a median income of $40,000 a year. At this salary, they are able to afford almost 22% of homes.

However, having a high salary doesn’t help enough in places with high housing costs.

Take the New York/Northern New Jersey area, for instance, where the median income for millennials is a healthy $60,000, yet only 9.7% of them are able to live alone.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA is also bad: the median income is $50,000 yet only 7.8% of millennials live alone.

Chicago, Dallas/Ft Worth and Philadelphia also near the bottom, with 11.1%, 11.9% and 11.4% of area millennials living on their own.

Millennials who would like to have their own place to live would be wise to consider places like Richmond or Pittsburgh.