The Top 5 U.S. Cities for Gen Zers

Homing in on the 100 most populated cities in the U.S., Living Cozy has released its Gen Z City Index for 2022. Measuring 10 factors from median age to job listings to households with internet connection, scores were averaged across the factors to reach a final average score.

Other components weighing in on the rankings were the equality index, ratio of people to mental health providers, internet privacy, LGBTQ+ population, patient-to-clinician ratio, median house prices, and gender pay gap.

Portland, Oregon
Portland secured the top ranking with a score of 6.60 out of 10. Increasing its proportion of mental health providers by more than 10% since 2021, Portland ranks highly in accessibility to both mental health providers and local physicians. The state has the largest LGBTQ+ community and is also up two points in the equality index since last year. Portland’s housing affordability has also seen an increase as demand has lowered due to mortgage rates.

Minneapolis, Minnesota
With 6.38 points out of 10, Minneapolis lands the No. 2 spot with the highest level of equality and smallest gender pay gap. Further raising its appeal, home prices have dropped since 2021 and the ratio of patients to mental health providers has decreased.

Denver, Colorado
Jumping from 10^th place in 2021, Denver’s healthcare places the city high in both physicians and mental healthcare providers ratios. Its narrow gender pay gap, LGBTQ+ equality, and increase in broadband access helped in its score of 6.35 out of 10.

Oakland, California and Cincinnati, Ohio
Tying at fourth are Oakland, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Both with a score of 6.26 out of 10, the cities have healthy job markets and high percentages of homes with broadband access at 86.4% and 83.7%, respectively. While Oakland’s internet privacy trumps Cincinnati’s, the Ohio city ranks well in terms of housing affordability.

Other rankings
Detroit, Michigan, ranked the highest in median house price affordability at $56,960, down from $61,539 last year.

For the most households with a broadband internet connection, Gilbert, Arizona, ranked No. 1 with 96.3% of homes having internet. Part of Phoenix’s metro area, Gilbert has ranked at the top two years in a row.

Alongside Portland, San Francisco ranked at the top for the best ratio of people to mental health providers at 100 to 1, and best patient-to-clinician ratio at 629 to 1.

Jersey City, New Jersey, has the highest level of current lob listings at 84,613 listings per 100,000 people. Newark, New Jersey, had the second highest number of job openings.

Lubbock, Texas, topped the chart for best average age of 29.8—the youngest population on the list.