Millennials have grown up with the tech revolution as a background to their life, and have increasingly contributed to it. A study from commercial real-estate firm CBRE released today shows that Seattle has seen the Millennial population rise rapidly since 2009, putting it in the top 10 most concentrated markets for the influential demographic.
“This hyper-connected generation was raised on technology, and has robustly contributed to the growth of tech talent labor pools,” the report says.
By the end of 2013, the Millennial (age 20–29) population has risen 10.7 percent in Seattle to 132,000, roughly 12,800 more than in 2009, according to CBRE. That puts it above New York, Los Angeles, Austin and Silicon Valley, as well as the national 3 percent growth in the Millennial population. Washington D.C. and San Francisco both topped the Emerald City in Millennial growth.
The Seattle area has also seen growth in recent STEM graduates, who may be drawn by tech sector work. Many of those graduates fit in the Millennial generation.
While Seattle is a large draw for young people, it still doesn’t break the top five for tech talent pools — Silicon Valley, Washington D.C. and New York rank higher than Seattle, which came in sixth with a score of 61.41 on CBRE’s scorecard. The top-ranking Silicon Valley scored 76.91.
The average tech wage in Seattle was lower than the top five at $97,352, and gender diversity reaches a paltry 21 percent female talent pool. While that’s the same as Silicon Valley, females make up one-quarter of the tech pool in the other top five markets.
Seattle does rank highly for business costs, which are just two percent above the national average. Office rents have stayed relatively stable even as vacancy rates have fallen.
The study found that residential costs are also lower in Seattle than other leading tech hubs. The cost of living is just 23 percent higher than the national average, compared to more than 50 percent in the San Francisco area. However, Seattle has seen a significant increase in residential rent, rising nearly 40 percent since 2009 while outpacing New York and Washington D.C.
