What attributes are Millennials looking for?

April 22nd, 2009 by Mike Knutson

In recent posts, we looked several aspects of the “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities” study including:

The report’s main theme - Millennials who graduate from college often seek a place to live first, and a job second.
Whether focusing on college grads makes sense
How Millennials get their information – personal, family, and friend experiences along with local websites.

Now, I want to look at what attributes of a community Millennials find important.

The Segmentation Company describes the attributes Millennials desire out of their communities in a hierarchical fashion. At the bottom are the most important attributes they call “Basic Quality of Life” attributes (slides 13 & 14). These include:

Clean and attractive
Can live the life I want to lead
Safe streets and neighborhoods
Can afford to buy a home
Lots of parks and green space

Next up in importance on the on the list are “Great Aspirations” attributes (slides 15 & 16) including such characteristics as:

Makes me feel welcome
Professional opportunities
Reasonable commute times
Access to excellent schools
Great place to raise children
A place I am proud to say I live

And finally, the study identifies “Connections and Lifestyle” attributes (slides 17 & 18). While greater in number, these attributes of lesser importance in the selection process:

Fair taxes
Excellent dining options
Intellectual capital
Job opportunities for my spouse
A place I’ve always dreamed of living
Neighborhood gathering places
Interesting communities
Environmentally responsible
Near my family
Culturally diverse
Interesting shopping

It is interesting to see research of this nature because communities can use it as they prioritize their community development work. In other words, take care of those attributes in the Basic category before moving to those in Aspirations and Connections/Lifestyle categories.

The information also gives me hope because I think rural communities can compete well in the first two categories. Safe, affordable, good schools are the bedrock of what makes most rural places special. Unfortunately, we could often use a little improvement with the clean, professional opportunities, and green space attributes.

It would be interesting to hear how people feel their rural communities fair with the above attributes. If your community has them, do you think it’s helped attract young people? And if your community doesn’t, do you think it’s hurt?

Image note: The image is a screenshot of slide 17 from “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities”.

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