Millennial Stats

New study cements Austin's status among best metros for millennials

Roadhouse Relics Greetings from Austin postcard mural

Austin is millennial-approved.

Who run the world? Right now, the answer is millennials. They make up the largest segment of the U.S. labor force and are the largest generation overall, so when they choose which cities they want to live and work in, there's usually a good reason.

Luckily for Austin, a lot of millennials have chosen it — 17.4 percent of the city's population, in fact. That, along with six other factors, has landed Austin at No. 2 among the top 10 metros for millennials looking to relocate.

Using the latest Census data, commercial real estate CommercialCafe ranked U.S. metros based on millennial population growth, regional price parity, millennial unemployment rate, percentage of millennials with employer-based health insurance, and commuting time.

The Austin metro area garnered a total of 74.6 points, thanks in large part to its millennial population growth between 2014 and 2018 (11 percent) and the fact that 67 percent of millennials here have employer-based insurance.

Though Austin has a pretty decent average commute time of 27 minutes, our lack of public transportation and infrastructure means that owning a car — and the expense and traffic congestion that comes with it — is pretty much unavoidable.

No other Texas metros appear on the list of millennial hot spots. The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area comes in first, while the third and fourth spots are claimed by Raleigh and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue. Salt Lake City; Columbus, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Nashville; Portland; and San Jose, California, round out the top 10.

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share the road

Texas races to the bottom in new list of best states for cyclists

Photo by Justin Wallace on Unsplash

If you've ridden your bicycle in Austin, you already know how true this is.

In what will come as no surprise to cyclists around Austin, the state of Texas is not a good place for bicycle riding. According to a new report of the "Most Cycling-Friendly States in the U.S.," Texas comes in at No. 47 — meaning that only three other states are worse.

The report, from Philadelphia personal injury law firm KaplunMarx, examines all 50 states based on six metrics: Air quality index, the number of cyclist deaths per one million residents, bike routes per square mile, local government actions supporting cycling, federal funding for cycling projects, and bicycle laws.

Texas musters a mere 31 points out of 100 for its "cycling friendly score."

The most cycling-friendly state in the U.S.: Minnesota, which earned 84 points to claim the title.

According to the report's findings, there have been 15 local government actions per capita in Texas that integrate pedestrians and cyclists in transportation projects. Texas' has a 41 air quality index value, and there are approximately 1.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles in the state.

On cyclist deaths, Texas does a little better, with three cyclist deaths per one million residents in Texas — about nine percent lower than the national average.

According to KaplunMarx founding partner Ted Kaplun, there is an average of 857 cyclist fatalities in the U.S. every year. He adds that every measure or community effort to improve cyclist-friendliness is beneficial for all Americans.

"It's crucial for all states to continually assess and enhance their cycling provisions, learning from both high-ranking peers and their own experiences," he says.

Top-ranking Minnesota has only one cyclist death per one million state residents. It also has about 27.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles.

After Minnesota, the remaining top five best states for cyclists are Massachusetts (No. 2), Rhode Island (No. 3), Washington (No. 4), and Iowa (No. 5).

At the bottom of the list are Nevada (No. 48), Arizona (No. 49), and Utah (No. 50) — all of which performed far worse than Texas to be declared the three least cycling-friendly states.

The entire country still has areas for improvement when it comes to creating a safer environment for cyclists, regardless of where each state landed on the list, according to Kaplun.

"With over 53 million Americans riding bicycles regularly, the importance of cycling-friendly infrastructure and safety measures cannot be overstated," said Kaplun in the report. "This isn't just about rankings – it's about enhancing the quality of life, promoting sustainable transportation, and most crucially, saving lives."

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