America’s younger workers don’t want to be city slickers anymore. Instead, they’re heading to rural areas.
Communities with under 250,000 residents have seen a growing influx of Gen Z and millennial movers. About 63% of counties classified as rural or in small metros had increases in this age demographic between 2020 and 2023 — compared to 27% between 2010 and 2013, based on an analysis by Hamilton Lombard, a demographer at the University of Virginia.
In particular, young people are flocking to rural communities in the Colorado Rockies, Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, and Montana’s lakes, drawn by new work opportunities and the appeal of living surrounded by nature, Lombard’s analysis showed.
This map shows the percentage change in every US county for those aged 25 to 24 between 2020 and 2023. Many of the biggest gainers are rural and exurban areas in the South and Mountain West.
The top 10 counties with the …