As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles, and now Austin, which had the one of the top 20 highest inflows of Gen Zers in 2023.
Austin's reputation as a Gen Z hot spot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.
Austin saw an influx of 10,363 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 20 most popular city.
The city first gained traction as an up-and-coming destination for Gen Zers last year, when the "experience-hungry generation" was on the hunt for an affordable place to live with vast opportunities for entertainment, education, or employment.
Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree with this trend on a statewide scale; in February it declared Texas the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.
However, as Gen Z Austinites may have learned, it might take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought-after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Austin are likely to spend more than $160,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.
While Austin saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.
"The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."
The report also revealed that Austin is also one of the top destinations for millennials and Gen X, whereas both New York City and Los Angeles lost more residents among those two generations in comparison.
Austin had a net gain of 2,478 millennials in 2023, but saw net losses in its Gen X (3,240), baby boomer (1,178), and silent generation (1,390) populations.
"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."
The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:
- No. 1 – New York City, New York
- No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
- No. 3 – Houston, Texas
- No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
- No. 6 – San Diego, California
- No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
- No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
- No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
- No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota
