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Millennials own more homes than they rent, and now, they’re choosing new spots to settle down.
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Millennials own the second-largest percentage (26%) of the housing market in the U.S. in 2026, down from 29% in 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors. Baby Boomers still own the largest percentage of homes in the U.S. (42%), and Gen X owns 25%.
RentCafe, a leading property management platform, evaluated more than 100 metro areas nationwide to find the top locations for millennial homeowners and the areas where millennials are buying the most houses.
They used the most recently available housing data from 2023 on IPUMS, a database of census and survey data.
“Many younger Millennials had previously delayed buying a home due to student debt and high costs, but now they’re finding options that fit their budgets in a handful of affordable oases,” said Veronica Grecu, a research analyst at RentCafe.
Three SC cities were found to be very appealing to millennials and have some of the highest increases in homeownership rates. Here are the cities and the numbers behind their rankings:
SC cities with the highest shares of millennial homeowners
Greenville
Greenville has the 17th highest share of millennial homeowners in the country, with 59.4% of the generation owning at least one house in 2023, according to RentCafe.
In five years, between 2018 and 2023, the popular city saw the number of millennial owner households increase by 62.2%, jumping from 41,895 houses to 67,968 houses. Greenville placed 75th in the nation for this increase.
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Greenville also saw its share of millennial renters increase by 7.7% in five years, ranking 32nd in the country for this change.
Columbia
The Palmetto State’s capital city has the same share of millennial homeowners as Greenville (59.4%), but was placed two spots lower on the national ranking (19th).
Columbia ranked 54th in the country for its increased share of millennial-owned households, jumping from 31,554 in 2018 to 54,029 in 2023. This is a 5-year increase of 71.2%.
Columbia also saw the biggest change in millennial rentals out of all the metro areas that were evaluated. Millennial renter numbers decreased from 44,572 in 2018 to 36,928 in 2023. This was a 40.6% decrease.
Charleston
Charleston didn’t make the ranking of the top 20 metros with the highest shares of millennial homeownership, but the coastal city did rank high for its share of millennial renters.
Charleston ranks 37th in the country for its 5-year change in millennial renter households. Between 2018 and 2023, the number increased from 41,631 to 44,246, which is a 6.3% increase.
Top 10 metro areas with the highest millennial homeownership
These 10 cities had the highest percentages of millennial homeownership in the country, according to RentCafe:
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- Grand Rapids, MI: 68.5% share of millennial owners
- Odgen, UT: 68.3% share of millennial owners
- Provo, UT: 67.2% share of millennial owners
- Lancaster, PA: 62.9% share of millennial owners
- Minneapolis, MN: 62.6% share of millennial owners
- Baton Rouge, LA: 62.6% share of millennial owners
- Boise City, ID: 62.1% share of millennial owners
- Des Moines, IA: 62.1% share of millennial owners
- Detroit, MI: 62.1% share of millennial owners
- Pensacola, FL: 61.9% share of millennial owners