37% of Millennial Renters Plan to Leave Cities Across the US Within the Year

According to a recent survey ran by Quicken, more than 1/3 of millennial renters are planning to leave cities across the US, within the next 12 months. Here are the results…

Quicken, a company that offers the best selling personal finance software in the US, recently ran a survey asking more than 1,000 millennial renters in cities across the US about the impact they’ve felt from the pandemic — to their jobs, rent, and to their future plans.

Plans to Leave Big Cities

The astounding results from this survey were that more than 37% (1/3 of the 1,000 polled) are considering leaving the city within the next year — most likely in waves as their leases come up.

16% (of the 1,000 surveyed) said that their plans are still uncertain and another 17% are already moving — with over half of those staying in the city, moving to less expensive apartments, or living with family or friends.

Many millennials are planning on leaving large cities in search of refuge and employment in other areas, largely due to the job impact of Covid-19 and seeking relief from high rent in urban areas.

Accordingly, of the 1,000 surveyed, rent relief was given to only 7%, and nearly 8% said they were able to get their rent deferred for a few months. Very few received significant rent reductions.

Reasons For Leaving

Of those planning on leaving, nearly half cited Covid-related reasons. Among the main reasons cited are:

• Social life being affected by Covid regulations
• No longer required to be in an office
• Loss of job altogether and;
• No longer wanting to use the public transportation system.
• Other reasons include; cost of living too high, desire for more living space, desire to buy a house, and city safety concerns.

For the nearly 50% of the 1,000 millennial renters surveyed that are choosing to stay in cities — they have their reasons too; it’s where they want to live, they want to be close to friends and family, some feel like they have nowhere else to go, their jobs require them to be in the city, or they want to maintain a short commute.