The generation that brought you safe spaces and adult coloring books is finally souring on the City of Angels, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census data. Despite a number of policy proposals aimed at courting the young, the rental site Apartment List says the city has seen a 7.4 percent decline in the number of residents between the ages of 18 and 35 over the last 10 years. The L.A. metro area's millennial population, which now stands at more than 780,000, is experiencing the third worst decline in the nation, the analysis found.
Los Angeles just isn't the attractive place it once was for America's youth. You can thank those astronomical housing prices and a less-than-stellar job market for that.
"The high cost of living combined with stagnant incomes make L.A. a relatively unaffordable place for renters," notes Apartment List data director Andrew Woo. "Fewer millennials are settling in L.A." Instead, people in their 20's and 30's are heading for cities with more income growth and affordable housing. The big winners in this analysis include Houston and Austin, TX; Charlotte, NC; and Seattle, WA.
Read more about L.A.'s dwindling millennial population here.