Millennials fleeing cities in droves to the 'most boring' parts of the U.S in search of quieter rural life and to dodge rising house costs

Millennials are moving from trendy urban centers to the 'most boring places in the world', according to real estate experts. 

Young adults are abandoning their cramped apartments and crowded subway commutes for more affording housing in the suburbs across America.

In 2022 adults between 20 and 29 were more likely to say they moved for housing-related reasons than for family- or employment-related reasons, census data reveals.

'It turned out that millennials are moving to the most boring places in the world,' Hyojung Lee from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies told Business Insider. 

According to Lee cities with the most expensive rents and the smallest shares of apartments with three or more bedrooms lost the largest shares of their millennial population to the suburbs in recent years. 

Millennials are abandoning cramped apartments and subway carriages for the suburbs 

Cities like New York are pushing out millennials who can't afford bigger apartments as they start families 

In 2022 adults between 20 and 29 were more likely to say they moved for housing-related reasons than for family- or employment-related reasons

One real-estate broker, John Natale, has dubbed this phenomenon 'drive till you qualify.'

Natale, who is based in Wall Township, New Jersey says he used to be able to help his clients find a home within budget in whichever county they wanted to be in.

Now, however, his millennial clients are being priced out of anything within commuting distance of New York City.

'People are adjusting one, two, maybe even three counties over just to be able to afford a house,' he said.

Another real estate firm, the Suburban Jungle Group, that specializes in helping New York City dwellers move to surrounding suburbs, has been inundated with calls from millennials who feel they can no longer start a family and live in the city. 

'Clients call us in a panic, saying, "I got my renewal, I have 30 or 60 days to let them know, and my rent is increasing up to 30-plus percent,"' said Allison Levine, the firm's director of communications.

Tiffany Stuart, then 36, and her husband left New York City in 2017 and moved to New Jersey when they realized they couldn't afford a larger apartment for their growing family. 

They currently both commute an hour each way several times a week, Stuart by train and her husband mostly by car. 

Millennials are fleeing to the suburbs where they can afford homes with more space 

Properties with back yards are popular with millennials looking to grow their families 

However, some are already ditching the suburban life and heading back to the city 

Stuart appreciates being more surrounded by nature but misses aspects of city life, particularly all the West Indian restaurants she grew up around in Flatbush.

Some millennials are so bored of their new suburban lives, with the lack of restaurants, local coffee shops and bars, that they are trying to return to the cities they fled from.

'Some of these were rash decisions because properties were moving so aggressively, so quickly. People didn't really have a chance to shop around,' Rafy Qamar a real estate agent in Chicago said.

'In about a year or so they're like, "Listen, work just opened up, and this commute is terrible. We've got to sell it and go back to the city."'

However, some millennials homes in the suburbs have depreciated since they were bought early on in the pandemic. 

Mortgage rates have elevated after an aggressive round of central bank interest rate hikes.

As a result, 'a lot of people are now underwater,' Qamar said.

Jandra Sutton and her partner moved to the suburbs form Nashville in 2019, before home prices skyrocketed during the pandemic.

However, a few years of suburban living had made the couple 'miserable,' says Sutton, a 34-year-old writer and content creator. 

'The closest coffee shop was 15 to 20 minutes away, there wasn't a lot to do in the area, and none of our friends wanted to make the drive to visit us,' she said.

'It was so isolating' she added.

The couple now have 1,500 fewer square feet of living space, one fewer car, and no yard, but are happier.

They're now regulars at their favorite neighborhood bar and bodega, where, Sutton says, 'we know everyone by name and vice versa.'