Thursday, November 14, 2024

The U.S. States Attracting the Most Wealthy Millennials

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Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Upgraded Points.

The millennial generation — those currently aged 27 to 42 — is America’s largest, and as they move solidly into their peak earning and spending years, they are quickly asserting their economic power.

Millennials faced a tough economic outlook in their early working years. The impacts of the Great Recession, unprecedented levels of student loan debt, and stagnant wage growth made it difficult to find good jobs and build wealth. But over time, the outlook has improved.

Millennials are now the largest segment of the labor force. Within the last few years, they have also become the largest share of homebuyers.

Tightness in the labor market for much of the pandemic also allowed many workers to change jobs in the last few years — sometimes multiple times — in search of higher wages or better working conditions.

And after working remotely during the pandemic, many workers have since successfully pushed for permanent work-from-home or other flexible arrangements that give them more control over where they work.

Because of these trends, the U.S. experienced a sharp rise in the rate of people moving across state lines from densely populated and expensive states to those offering some combination of more affordable housing, space for home offices, lower taxes, and better recreational opportunities. Such moves were common among wealthy millennials.

Here are the states attracting the most wealthy millennials.

1. Vermont

Burlington, Vermont
Erika J Mitchell / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +8.5%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +716
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 1,130
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 414
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$124,231,000

2. Idaho

Boise, Idaho
Charles Knowles / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +7.4%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +2,563
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 3,738
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 1,175
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$228,880,000

3. Montana

Bozeman, Montana
Colton Stiffler / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +6.7%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +1,160
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 1,719
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 559
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$204,212,000

4. Florida

Cape Coral, Florida
Nadezda Murmakova / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +5.6%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +16,946
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 26,860
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 9,914
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$6,919,040,000

5. Maine

Maine Capitol Building
Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +5.5%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +926
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 1,580
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 654
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$139,638,000

6. Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee
Kevin Ruck / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +4.5%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +4,742
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 8,364
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 3,622
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$986,881,000

7. New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +4.4%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +1,434
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 2,676
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 1,242
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$229,277,000

8. South Carolina

Columbia, South Carolina
Kevin Ruck / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +4.3%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +2,957
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 5,546
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 2,589
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$365,300,000

9. Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut
Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +3.3%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +3,795
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 8,719
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 4,924
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$887,761,000

10. Hawaii

Homes in a residential community near Pearl City, Hawaii
ssguy / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +3.0%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +561
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 1,857
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 1,296
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$160,624,000

11. North Carolina

Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jacob Boomsma / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +2.9%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +5,602
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 12,326
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 6,724
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$729,351,000

12. Nevada

Henderson, Nevada aerial photo
Khairil Azhar Junos / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +2.9%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +1,196
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 3,818
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 2,622
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$902,050,000

13. Utah

Aerial View of Downtown Provo, Utah
Jacob Boomsma / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +2.7%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +2,850
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 5,631
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 2,781
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$355,977,000

14. Texas

View of downtown San Antonio, Texas.
f11photo / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +2.3%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +15,988
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 33,426
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 17,438
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$3,230,831,000

15. Colorado

Colorado Springs
sopotnicki / Shutterstock.com
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Percent): +1.9%
  • Net Gain or Loss of Wealthy Millennials (Total): +3,359
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved In: 10,860
  • Total Wealthy Millennials Who Moved Out: 7,501
  • Tax Base Change From Wealthy Millennial Movers: +$836,819,000

Methodology

Business analyst woman working in an office on a computer and analyzing data
Undrey / Shutterstock.com

To determine the states attracting the most wealthy millennials, researchers at Upgraded Points analyzed the latest data from the IRS Statistics of Income Division’s 2021 U.S. Population Migration Data.

The researchers ranked locations according to the net inbound migration of wealthy millennials as a percentage of wealthy millennial residents the year prior.

For the purposes of this analysis, net gain or loss of wealthy millennials was defined as the difference between those millennials who moved into and those millennials who moved out of a given state based on individual tax return data spanning two years.

Additionally, wealthy millennials were defined as those ages 26 to 45 in the year 2021 who reported earning over $200,000 on their 2021 federal income tax returns. In the event of a tie, the location with the larger net inbound migration of wealthy millennials was ranked higher.

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