Gen Zers ditch NYC to set up house down the highway in Philly

The Generation Z population is leaving New York City at a higher rate than older populations but not going far.

The amount of Gen Z in New York dropped by 29, 554 in 2024, more than any other US city, based on an analysis by Redfin of Census Bureau data, according to the New York Post.

Many of these Gen Zers are moving not very far away, to the city of Philadelphia, about 90 miles south of New York City. This is the second most popular “migration route,” with the most popular being to leave Los Angeles to close by Riverside, California.

There is a large difference in housing costs between New York City and Philadelphia, with average homes in the NYC metropolitan area averaging $832,000 while average homes in Phila are only $309,000, much less than half.

In the population as a whole, many high tax base states with Democrat-run cities such as New York, California and others are seeing migration to Republican-led states such as Florida and Texas, according to IRS data analyzed by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. This move has resulted in a $2 trillion shift from blue states to red states from 2012 to 2023.

This move from a more expensive city to a nearby less expensive city suggests that younger people could still maintain professional relationships and be within close distance to family and friends.

“Younger adults are gravitating toward cities where they can launch careers and their social lives, while millennials are more focused on places where a paycheck stretches further and buying a home is attainable,” Shehayar Bokhari, Redfin’s principal economist said. “But young Americans aren’t fleeing expensive cities for the cheapest place they can find. Most are making relatively short moves, suggesting they want a better job or lower cost of living without giving up their existing networks,” Bokhari added.

While millennials also had a large reduction in the New York City area, with a loss of 42,698 in this age range, they may be moving for slightly different reasons than the Gen Z population.

Bokhari said, “Gen Zers are chasing opportunity, while millennials are chasing space,” with millennials looking for cities in which larger sized homes are more affordable.

The cities experiencing the biggest move for Gen Z to a nearby city was from Los Angeles to Riverside, CA, about 60 miles away with 10,261 movers. This is followed by the NYC to Philly move and thirdly by Los Angeles to San Diego, with 9,237 moving.

For millennials, New York had the largest loss, with 42,698 moving out, followed by Los Angeles with 31,107 leaving and Miami, with 21,373 moving out.

Houston leads the cities with net millennials moving in, with 16,365 people, followed by Dallas, Baltimore, Las Vegas and Atlanta. These cities all have median home-sale costs below $450,000.

The 2024 Census Bureau’s American Community survey was used in this analysis and considered Gen Z as ages 19-27 years of age and Millennials as 28 to 43 years old.