The Las Vegas Valley has one of the highest rates of millennial renters in the country, according to a new study.
Approximately 56.8 percent of all renters in the valley are millennials (individuals born between 1981 and 1996). This puts Las Vegas sixth in the nation, behind Los Angeles, followed by San Jose, San Diego, New York and San Francisco, according to RentCafe.com, which looked at demographic trends across the country from 2018 to 2023.
Alexandra Both, a senior researcher and writer for RentCafe.com, said a number of factors come into play regarding the valley’s high rate of millennial renters. This puts Las Vegas in rarified air along with a number of coastal cities who have dealt with housing issues for years, in contrast to similarly sized Sun Belt cities which remain more affordable.
“Las Vegas has a higher share of millennial renters than the national average, and that comes down to a few things working together: higher home prices, the fact that the market has always had a strong rental presence and younger workers continue moving into the region,” she said in an email response to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The valley went into the pandemic as both an affordable place to buy and rent, however housing has become more expensive in Las Vegas due to a number of issues. This includes a lack of land to develop, slowdown in construction and wage stagnation. Both said millennials are getting hit the hardest by this inflated real estate market as they are supposed to be entering their peak homebuying stage of life but many are stuck renting.
“It’s worth noting that many millennials are now in their 30s and 40s, so this isn’t simply a lifestyle preference,” Both added about the high rate of millenial renters across the country. “For a growing number of households, the economics of homeownership have kept them renting longer than they may have planned.”
Millennial homeownership in Las Vegas grew 59 percent from 2018 to 2023 (ranking 82nd for homeownership growth, below the national average of 74 percent). In 2018, only 34 percent of Las Vegas millennials owned a home.
This translates to 111,124 millennial-owned homes and 146,388 millenial renters in the valley.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
