Apartment hunting is a major concern for Millenials, with nearly 8 our of 10 saying they don’t plan on buying a home for quite a while according to this Rent.com article. Thankfully, the North Texas area has been developing apartments to meet the needs of working millenial apartment renters that are moving to Texas in droves as they look for career opportunities. Finding an apartment in Dallas Fort Worth can seem stressful and finding one that fits your personal needs amidst all the options should be easier. By filling out our simple apartment finder form, we can start working right away to find an apartment that fits your budget with the amenities that you’re looking for.

But, why are Millenials still renting rather than buying a house?

Why Millenial’s Rent Apartments

There are a few reasons that we’ve seen affect the choice of Millenial’s to lean more towards apartments than a house. Those include:

  • Cost of Renting an Apartment v. Buying a House
  • Career Instability and Mobility
  • Single v. Married

Cost of Renting an Apartment v. Buying a House

First, we’re going to look at the requirement for renting an apartment v. buying a house. Renting requires that you have a credit score of preferably over 560 and an income of 3x the monthly rent. That means for a single individual trying to rent a one bedroom apartment for $900 a month, you need an income of $2,700 a month gross. If you’re working 40 hours a week, that’s about $16 an hour. A couple of 2, both working 40 hours a week means that each person only needs to make $8 an hour and still rent a one bedroom apartment.

What kind of expenses do apartment renters age 22 – 37 have?

  • Rent
  • Electricity
  • Water
  • Cell phone
  • Internet
  • Cable/satellite
  • Groceries
  • Dining out budget
  • Gas and parking, or public transportation
  • Credit card payments
  • Student loans
  • Fun money

Pre-pandemic shutdown the median Millenial income in Texas was $58,210. For the older middle class, that sounds like a solid wage. However, comparing that to inflation rates over the past 30 years and looking at the historical value, that $58,210 today was only $28,000 in 1990. Millenials also on average only have a savings of $8,000. Homes in a decent area of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex cost $150,000 – $300,000. So, is it possible to live on that and buy house? Not really. But you can make the monthly rent of an apartment. Middle class and lower class Millenial’s can afford to rent an apartment, but most likely can’t afford a house especially if they’re trying to keep up with the Jones’s on other costs.

Career Instability and Mobility

Careers that people spend their entire lives working at with a pension and little fear of being let go during a 30 year period hardly exist anymore. It’s practically unheard of that someone working today has been at their same job for three decades. It’s also become a much more volatile market with changes being made constantly that make it more difficult for young adults and families to find career stability. Because of this, being tied down to a home when you most likely will have to move within 2-6 years isn’t a good move. Thus the flexibility of renting an apartment becomes a boon against the liability of needing to sell a home suddenly.

Single v. Married

Finally, Millenial’s aren’t settling down and getting married as much as in the past. The rate of homeowner percentage of Millenial’s increases dramatically in comparing married families (even more so if you compare that to having a stabile career) v. their single counterparts.

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