Millennials: Who They Are and Where They’re Going

Millennials, or those born between 1981 and 1996, are well into their prime homebuying years and are beginning to settle in. But which states are best? 

Scholaroo, a college scholarship resource company, took seven factors—affordability, political & social environment, employment, quality of life, health, personal finance, and safety—to find the best, and worst, states where millennials can thrive. 

Now the dominant generation, millennials are taking leadership roles at work and in the government, while making significant economic contributions that are shaping politics and driving social change. 

The second edition of the Best and Worst States for Millennials, has compiled data from 52 metrics that impact this generation’s decision on where to live. Considerations such as the cost of living, homeownership rate, unemployment rate, and median student loan debt, amongst other factors. Scholaroo´s data team have compared all 50 states and ranked them from best to worst for millennials. 

Key highlights from the report include: 

• Minnesota, Utah, and Massachusetts are the best states for millennials for the second time in a row. 
• California used to be ranked #25, but this year it has risen to #15 as the best state. 
• New York jumped from spot #41 to spot #29. 
• This year, Alabama and Louisiana switched positions. Alabama used to rank #49, while Louisiana was at #50. However, this year, they reversed their positions, making Alabama the worst state for this generation. 

Scholaroo conducted this report by taking the seven major factors referenced earlier and evaluated those dimensions using 52 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weight. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 being the max. 

Finally, they determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample. 

Click here to see the full ranking of states in order from best to worst.