Where are Millennials in the U.S. buying the most homes?

By Jaclyn DeJohn, CFP Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, have positioned themselves as the largest cohort of homebuyers, outpacing both Baby Boomers and Gen Z. While many are purchasing homes to start or grow families, others are building equity or simply escaping rising rental costs. But the leap to buying a home can be easier or harder depending on the location. Based on the most recently available mortgage data, Millennials in the leading metro areas are buying homes at up to 13 times the rate of others. With this in mind, SmartAsset ranked the 40 largest U.S. metro areas based on the percentage of local Millennials who successfully purchased a home in 2022, while examining the values of these homes and the annual incomes of this age group. Key Findings Millennials are buying homes at the fastest rate in this Southern metro. In just one year, 6.5% of Millennials in the Raleigh-Cary, NC metro became homeowners. The median income of these new homeowners was $123,000. The Charlotte, NC-SC metro ranked fourth overall with a 5.8% rate of Millennials buying homes. Here, the median income of new Millennial homeowners is $110,000. The median income for new homeowners in large metro...