TIME Magazine included Raleigh and Charlotte in a 2017 list of the top 25 cities where millennials — individuals currently aged 25-to 34-years-old — are moving, both ranking higher than New York City and Washington, D.C.
The data TIME collected shows that Raleigh — ranked 16th — experienced a 4.2 percent increase between 2010 and 2015 in the population of millennials, coming out to an increase of 677 individuals, while Charlotte — ranked 18th in combination with nearby Concord and Gastonia — experienced a 4 percent increase during the same time in this population, coming out to an increase of 1,372 individuals.
The top ranked urban area in the list was Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News VA-NC, which had a 16.4 percent increase in its millennial population, coming to 7,034 individuals moving to the area between 2010 and 2015.
New York City, which was combined with Newark, New Jersey and Jersey City only experienced a 2.5 percent increase in its millennial population. New Jersey as an urban area to rank 25th on the list. However, it had the highest numerical increase of millennials at 29,774 individuals moving to the city — almost double the next two highest numerical values, with ninth-ranked Boston’s urban area seeing an increase of 15,549 and 11th-ranked Philadelphia’s urban area seeing an increase of 14,383.
The majority of urban areas in the study experienced some level of increase during this time period, but some urban areas did experience some level of a decrease, with the biggest numbers coming from Milwaukee, Wisconsin at negative 1.8 percent and Louisville, Kentucky at negative 1.3 percent.
Other urban areas that experienced decreases were Orlando, Florida at negative 0.3 percent, Cleveland with negative 0.2 percent, the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area at negative 0.2 percent and San Jose, California with negative 0.2 percent.
All the cities that experienced a decrease were relatively near an urban area that was experiencing a growth during the period, typically within in the same state or in a bordering state.
UNC Career Services' Undergraduate First Destination Report, which annually surveys May graduates, collects data from March of students' spring semester to the December after their graduation.
The most recent available survey data was on UNC's Class of 2016. Out of that class, 83 percent of the entering first-years were in-state students. After graduation, 58 percent of the class stayed in North Carolina. The next three regions were the Northeast at 8 percent, the Mid-Atlantic at 8 percent and the Southeast at 7 percent.
