High Rents Don't Dismay Gen Z When Deciding Where to Move

High rents don’t seem to bother Gen Z when deciding where to move. Even though three-quarters of this generation rent, some of their most popular destinations were also states with rent costs well above the national median.

The list of the top 10 states that Gen Z chooses includes California, where rent runs $1,856 per month, compared to the $1,300 national median. While 215,000 residents left California in 2022, 44,000 Gen Z adults moved in. But among all movers heading elsewhere, California did not even make the top 10 as a place to move to.

Other expensive destination states that attracted Gen Z were Washington ($1,592 rent), Colorado ($1,594) and Virginia ($1,440).

“Compared to all interstate movers, Gen Z adults who moved to California, Washington, Colorado or Virginia were more likely to have a four-year college degree, more likely to be serving in the military, and more likely to work in tech, ACS data shows,” said Edward Berchick, a principal population scientist at Zillow. He speculated that for this generation, job opportunities outweigh the cost of housing at a stage when its members are “more flexible” in their standards of living.

The data comes from Zillow’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. It defines Gen Z as people born between 1996 and 2004. Students were not included. Texas, which saw net Gen Z in-migration of 76,805 in 2022 was by far the most popular destination, followed by California and Florida. North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia and Arizona were also in the mix.

Michigan was the only state to experience a net Gen Z exodus of 2,858 individuals.