Where Millennials Are Buying Homes – 2025 Study

MikaSci/Tech2025-07-117900

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Millennials – all squarely within their primary working years – are buying homes more or less quickly depending on the metro area. In some places, 1 in every 25 residents between the ages of 25 and 44 purchased a home with a conventional mortgage just in 2024 alone. In other major metros, less than 1 in 100 Millennial-aged residents last year. This disparity can cause divergent implications for local infrastructure, politics, and business demand among different metros. Particularly with many Millennials at the peak of their earning potential, local tax bases, housing markets, and more may also be impacted by such trends. Observed from another angle, high rates of Millennials investing in homes in an area may indicate prosperity in the job market, paired with a friendly housing market and economy.

With this in mind, SmartAsset ranked 41 of the largest U.S. metro areas with available data to determine the places where the local Millennial population purchased the most houses in 2024.

Key Findings

Millennials are snatching up homes most quickly in the Raleigh-Cary, NC metro. 4.5% of residents aged 25 to 44 bought a home with a conventional mortgage in the Raleigh-Cary metro in 2024, the largest share studywide. A total of 19,735 conventional mortgages were issued to this age group, with the median property value at $455,000. These new homeowners have a median income of $138,000.
Over 60,000 mortgages were issued to Millennials in 2024 in the Houston, TX metro. This was the highest raw number of new Millennial homeowners nationwide, outranking metros like New York City and Los Angeles, which have much larger total populations. When accounting for its population size, the 61,826 Millennial mortgages issued accounted for just 2.85% of residents in that age bracket, putting the Houston metro at 27th overall.
In the San Francisco Bay area, only 0.52% of Millennials purchased homes. With a total of just 6,993 mortgages issued, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro is the least popular among Millennial homeowners. At the same time, the new Millennial homeowners here have the highest median income studywide at $331,500. Similarly, low rates of home purchases by this cohort were evident in the metros of New York City (0.76%) and Miami (0.94%).
The median property value purchased by Millennials in the San Jose area was $1.565 million. Millennials in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area are buying the most expensive homes studywide, outpacing the median property value purchased in the San Francisco Bay area by $60,000. In all, 2.06% of Millennials in the San Jose area purchased a home in 2024.

Story Continues

Top 10 Metro Areas Where Millennials Are Buying Homes

Raleigh-Cary, NC
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 4.50%
- Total conventional mortgages originated to people aged 25 to 44: 19,735
- Median interest rate: 6.63%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $455,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $138,000
- Total population: 1,509,231
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 438,398
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 29.05%
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 4.32%
- Total conventional mortgages: 26,000
- Median interest rate: 6.75%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $325,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $103,000
- Total population: 2,139,689
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 601,525
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 28.11%
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 4.28%
- Total conventional mortgages: 33,832
- Median interest rate: 6.63%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $425,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $125,000
- Total population: 2,805,115
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 790,522
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 28.18%
Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 4.08%
- Total conventional mortgages: 25,512
- Median interest rate: 6.63%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $455,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $123,000
- Total population: 2,104,235
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 624,627
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 29.68%
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 4.06%
- Total conventional mortgages: 24,227
- Median interest rate: 6.88%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $315,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $107,000
- Total population: 2,272,910
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 596,010
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 26.22%
Louisville-Jefferson, KY-IN
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 4.04%
- Total conventional mortgages: 14,727
- Median interest rate: 6.75%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $285,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $91,000
- Total population: 1,364,742
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 364,566
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 26.71%
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 4.02%
- Total conventional mortgages: 20,524
- Median interest rate: 6.63%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $365,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $105,000
- Total population: 1,781,671
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 510,680
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 28.66%
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 3.82%
- Total conventional mortgages: 16,059
- Median interest rate: 6.88%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $355,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $119,000
- Total population: 1,560,424
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 420,216
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 26.93%
Jacksonville, FL
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 3.81%
- Total conventional mortgages: 17,922
- Median interest rate: 6.50%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $375,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $110,000
- Total population: 1,713,240
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 469,821
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 27.42%
St. Louis, MO-IL
- Percent of local Millennials who bought a home in 2024: 3.81%
- Total conventional mortgages: 28,372
- Median interest rate: 6.75%
- Median property value for mortgages issued to Millennials in 2024: $305,000
- Median income of Millennial homebuyers: $106,000
- Total population: 2,795,504
- Residents aged 25 to 44: 744,732
- Percent of population aged 25 to 44: 26.64%

Data and Methodology

To find where Millennials are buying homes at the fastest rates, SmartAsset reviewed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 2024. Specifically, originated mortgages for people between age 25 and 44 was considered, relative to the size of the local population of that same age bracket in 2023 according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The median income of new Millennial homeowners, as well as subject property value, were also considered.