None of the top 10 destinations for millennial homebuyers were big cities. A new ranking reveals that seven of the top 10 largest cities in the U.S. were in the bottom half, with New York and L.A. at 148th and 153rd, respectively.
Olathe, Kansas ranked number one on SmartAsset's list, a city that was not included in last year's ranking. The data show that over half of millennial households in Olathe own their homes, the fourth-highest rate in the study. Three Californian cities made the top 10, with Bakersfield ranked third for the second year in a row. Bakersfield scores better than 85 percent of cities in both millennial homeownership rate, and growth in millennial homeownership. In 2016, 36.7 percent of millennial households were homeowners.
Only 34.7 percent of Americans under the age of 35 owned their homes as of 2016, according to a Census Bureau survey. But that’s not always by choice. According to a Pew survey, 72 percent of renters hope to become homeowners one day. One big hurdle for millennials is that they are unable to buy affordable homes, especially in cities like New York or San Francisco. There are some cities however where millennials are overcoming mortgage costs and buying homes.
