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Moving is a fact of life—an incredibly stressful, expensive, and exciting one. And many Gen Zers are experiencing it for the first time on their own as they enter adulthood and leave the nest. RentCafe, a platform for finding apartment rentals, recently dug into the places they’re increasingly calling home this year, analyzing 97 metropolitan areas in the United States with at least 15,000 Gen Z households to see which locations are on the rise.
The number of Gen Zers buying homes is growing, but it’s still coming in under one million households—overall, only 17 percent of them own a place. Cities are seeing the biggest boom in Gen Z renters—here are the top 10 from the report:
- Birmingham, AL
- Raleigh, NC
- Buffalo, NY
- Nashville, TN
- Denver, CO
- Jackson, MS
- Washington, D.C.
- San Jose, CA
- Miami, FL
- Boston, MA
As the first, second, and fourth locations on the list indicate, Southern destinations are the ones to watch. But coastal cities still have the highest concentrations of Gen Zers who rent versus own—in San Jose, a whopping 95 percent. That’s a lot of people in need of rental design advice—here are three golden rules we’ve determined over the years.
Curtains Solve a Lot of Problems
Texture, color, privacy—window treatments can do it all. Curtains add color in place of paint in Survivor alum Stephanie Berger’s Brooklyn home; hide a dishwasher in this kitchen, and cleverly cut down on visual clutter.
When You Can’t Swap It, Cover It
Peel-and-stick wallpaper isn’t your only option, though we do love it. Peep the aluminum sheeting-turned-backsplash in architect Amna Mesic’s Hamburg home, the removable marble slab in interior designer Alvin Wayne’s kitchen, and this faux butchtcher-block countertop (it’s contact paper!).
Make a Space Feel Bigger With Transparent Furniture
A glass tabletop can go a long way in freeing up some visual square footage, whether it’s in your dining nook (like the one in this L.A. apartment) or office-slash-bedroom (as seen in a stylist’s NYC studio). But really, any see-through furniture will help open up your space—check out these folding chairs.