May 2 2015
Since 2002, Niche.com, has been tracking the behaviors, preferences, and decision-making of Millennials. In 2014, it analyzed the data on cities and metro areas with 1 million residents or more from the US Census, FBI, and surveys of nearly half a million college students and graduates from over the past four years.
The Top 25 Best Cities and Neighborhoods for Millennials ranks the best places for young people to live in the United States, based on more than a dozen factors as well as surveys of nearly 500,000 college students and recent grads. “View the full methodology and list of factors here.”:
In the top 5 are the cities you’d expect: NYC, Austin, DC, Chicago, and San Francisco.
But where to the Millennials you know want to live? For insight, I asked four of my friends for their thoughts. Click here to read all about it.
And download the podcast now to hear our conversation.
As for me, I have backpacked and traveled to 50+ cities in more than 10 countries within the last five years — including Spain, Shanghai, and Seoul, South Korea. While I really like living in Richmond, Pad Thai from the restaurant down the street from my apartment near VCU will never taste quite as good as that time I ate it on a scorching-hot day, exploring the nose-tingling food alleys of Bangkok. In fact, I temporarily lost my ability to hear after underestimating the amount of spice in that dish.
Throughout my travels, I have come to realize that any place is only as good as the company you find there. I honestly cannot remember fully breathing in the majestic Taj Mahal this past summer, but I do remember grabbing beers and chicken marsala with the two Belgian buddies I had met along the way. College graduation is in my winter forecast, and the possibilities are endless.
To me, a new city is a new adventure. And I deem any city livable if it’s one where I can bike to the nearest Asian grocery to pick up some Dim Sum for a Saturday hike.
Here are my top five factors for relocating:
- Transportation (Having a car is like having a kid; I’ll pass for now.)
- Weather (Sunny with some rain is essential to fitting in an all-day “Godfather” marathon.)
- Nature
- Competitive Millennial population
- Diversity (Where will I eat my Korean BBQ?)
The city in my immediate future is LA, where I’ve lined up an internship with an entertainment agency this summer. I’m not sure yet exactly where in LA I will be living, which means I have to head to the DMV this week to renew my driver license. I know transportation was number one on my factor list, but when the opportunity is otherwise so good. Tune in for future articles on my internship in Los Angeles this summer!
