Housing & Economy

Pensacola Millennials Are Buying Homes Faster Than Most of the Country

A new national report puts Pensacola in the top 10 for Millennial homeownership rates — even as local Millennial renters are becoming a shrinking share of the market.

A new analysis from RentCafe, based on IPUMS census data, looked at Millennial homeownership and rentership trends across 107 metro areas with the largest Millennial populations. The findings: the number of Millennial homeowners nationwide jumped 74% between 2018 and 2023, growing by 5.3 million households, while the number of Millennial renters grew a much more modest 5%, adding about 600,000 households.

• Background: Millennials are the demographic group of people born between 1981 and 1996, also known as Generation Y.

Pensacola shows up twice in the report—and both times on the ownership side of the ledger.

• Why this matters: Five of the six mayoral candidates have stressed affordability in their campaigns.

Pensacola cracks the top 10 for homeownership

The Pensacola metro ranks 10th nationally for the share of Millennials who own their homes, at 61.9%—putting it ahead of much larger metros like Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh. Only a handful of places beat it: Grand Rapids, MI (68.5%); Ogden, UT (68.3%); Provo, UT (67.2%); Lancaster, PA (62.9%); and Minneapolis, MN (62.6%), followed by Baton Rouge, Boise, Des Moines and Detroit before Pensacola rounds out the top 10.

•  Pensacola had 32,853 Millennial homeowner households in 2023, up from 19,172 in 2018 — a 71.4% increase in five years. That growth rate lands Pensacola at #53 out of the 107 metro areas ranked for homeownership growth, roughly in the middle of the pack nationally, but well above the growth seen in bigger Southeastern cities like Atlanta (77.5%) or Jacksonville, which posted the strongest Florida gains outside the smaller metros.
• Pensacola’s Millennial homeowner percentage tops all Florida cities.

RentCafe’s report notes that the metros with the highest Millennial homeownership shares typically share two traits: strong local income growth for Millennial workers—up to 52% over five years in the top-performing areas—and price growth that stayed below 20%.

Millennial renters, meanwhile, are a shrinking share locally

While ownership climbed, the local rental side moved the opposite direction. Pensacola’s Millennial renter households fell from 23,158 in 2018 to 20,245 in 2023—a 12.6% decline. That leaves renters at just 38.1% of the local Millennial population. Miami (56.6%) and Orlando (54.8%) still see renters as the clear majority.

• Pensacola’s Millennials are converting out of the rental pool faster than most of the country.

Where the national growth is happening

Nationally, the fastest Millennial homeownership growth is concentrated in mid-sized Florida and California metros, led by North Port, FL, where the number of Millennial homeowners nearly tripled (166%) in five years. Lakeland, FL (140.7%) and Jacksonville, FL (125.9%) round out the top three, followed by Stockton and Oxnard in California.

• Biggest ownership growth: North Port, FL (166%), Lakeland, FL (140.7%), Jacksonville, FL (125.9%), Stockton, CA (117.6%), Oxnard, CA (113.9%)
• Big-city surprises: San Antonio, Miami, Philadelphia and New York all posted ownership growth rates between 89% and 106%, driven partly by first-time homebuyer assistance programs and access to more affordable neighborhoods outside city cores
• Highest ownership rates overall: Grand Rapids, MI; Ogden, UT; Provo, UT; Lancaster, PA; Minneapolis, MN — and Pensacola at #10

On the rental side, Florida dominates the growth list for an entirely different reason. Orlando posted the largest jump in Millennial renters nationwide, up 34% in five years, followed by Lakeland (32.7%), Cape Coral (27%), Palm Bay (26.9%) and Miami (26.8%). Nationally, the report frames this as evidence that even strong Millennial income growth hasn’t kept pace with home prices in some of the state’s fastest-growing rental markets.

The full dataset, including rankings for all 107 metro areas, is available from RentCafe at rentcafe.com.

• How does the report jibe with your experiences?