- Salt Lake City is the U.S. metro where Gen Z grownups own the highest share( 3.6 %)of homes with three or more bed rooms
- . Virginia Beach, VA (3%), Oklahoma City, OK (2.9%), Louisville, KY (2.7%) and Indianapolis (2.6%) round out the top five.
- Nationally, Gen Z grownups own just 2.2% of three-plus-bedroom home stock. In comparison, millennials own 23.7% of this inventory, while Gen Xers (31.2%), and child boomers (35.3%) each claim approximately one-third.
Thanks to increasing expenses and limited inventory, owning any kind of home– not to mention a big one– is significantly elusive for many young Americans. However, there are a handful of metros around the country where young people have been able to snag a small– but quantifiable– share of homes with three-plus-bedrooms over the last few years.
These cities are mainly little(er) and primarily landlocked. Case in point: Salt Lake City leads our list of the 15 metros where Gen Zers own the greatest share of three-plus-bedroom homes, while Virginia Beach, VA, Oklahoma City, OK, Louisville, KY, and Indianapolis complete the leading five.
This is according to a Redfin analysis of U.S. Census data from 2024 (the most recent year for which information is readily available) that breaks down the share of homes owned and inhabited by each generation by bed room size. Rankings were pulled from a list of the 50 most populated U.S. cities. See the end of this report for more details on methodology.
Gen Zers Own Almost 4% of Big Houses in Salt Lake City, More Than Any Other Major City
Adult Gen Zers own 3.6% of Salt Lake City’s three-plus-bedroom homes. That figure is over half a percentage point greater than the metro where the young generation owns the next-largest share (3%) of three-plus-bedroom stock– Virginia Beach, VA.
So what makes the Utah capital so accessible for young buyers trying to find great deals of space?
According to Kristina Gross, a Redfin senior agent based in Salt Lake City, the answer has a lot to do with the area’s special demographics.
“We see a high share of young purchasers who are from dual-income households– couples or young families or soon-to-be families– which stretches their purchasing power,” stated Gross. “Numerous Gen Zers here likewise have strong household support. It prevails to see talented down payments or multi-generational monetary assistance that accelerates their ability to buy faster or purchase larger.”
(In a Nov. 2025 Redfin survey of around 2,200 recent homebuyers performed by Ipsos, 26% of young property buyers * stated they made their down payment, in part, due to family cash– defined as a cash present from family member(s) or an inheritance– considerably higher than the share of all homebuyers (20%) who said the very same.)
Environmental and financial factors are at play in Salt Lake City, too.
The Utah metro has adequate developable land, which, Gross stated, makes brand-new large-home building more abundant and more affordable than in other locations around the country. Gross added that Salt Lake City boasts a “uniquely strong pipeline” of jobs in innovation, health care and engineering, frequently translating to “higher-paying early-career functions.”
When It Comes to Gen Z Large-Homeownership, Midsized Metros Blaze A Trail
Several midsized metros– consisting of Oklahoma City, OK, Louisville, KY, Cincinnati, Kansas City, MO, and Birmingham, AL– likewise appeared on our leading 15 list. All of these happen to be among a handful of metros across the country where the normal household still makes sufficient cash to easily pay for a home– a factor that local Redfin representatives regularly pointed to when asked why young purchasers had above-average access to large properties in these locations.
“Birmingham showing up on those lists does not shock me at all. One of the most significant motorists here is price relative to other metros,” said senior representative Jennifer Hoelsher. “Purchasers can still acquire homes with considerably more square video for the same– or lower– rate than what they ‘d pay in larger cities. That makes three and four bedroom homes a lot more obtainable early.”
Louisville senior representative Suha Matthews echoed a similar belief: “It’s everything about affordability, affordability, price. The type of property you get for your cash in Louisville extends a long method.”
Much of Matthews’ current clients have actually been young songs or couples who work remotely and are trying to find lots of space; they want “at least one space as a designated office while having alternatives to turn extra spaces into visitor bedrooms or flex space,” she stated.
Space to Grow: Gen Z’ s Course to More Large-Homeownership
General Gen Z homeownership figures are improving slightly; more than one-quarter (27.1%) of the accomplice across the country owned their home in 2025, up from 26.1% a year earlier. The share of big homes owned by Gen Zers nationally (2.2%) lags far behind that of millennials (23.7%), Gen Xers (31.2%), and baby boomers (35.3%)– however much of this is because of life stage.
Still, Zoomers’ potential customers for future share gain of big homes stay rather complicated, specifically as lots of empty-nest baby boomers aren’t letting go of their own three-plus-bedroom residential or commercial properties.
“Young person today need to select in between living someplace they can buy a large single-family home versus living somewhere that will set them up for high life time profits, because the locations that have the very best job chances, like the Bay Area and New York City, have a few of the least cost effective housing,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “However, there is some happy medium. Gen Zers that live in Washington, D.C., for example, have access to high-paying careers and starter homes in multifamily structures.”
Approach This analysis is based on a Redfin
analysis of U.S. Census data from 2024(the most current year for which data is offered )that breaks down the share of homes owned and occupied by each generation by bed room size. Adult Gen Zers were 19-27 years of ages in 2024, millennials were
28-43, Gen Xers were 44-59, and baby boomers were 60-78. ACS information was retrieved from IPUMS USA Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Matthew Sobek
, Daniel Backman, Grace Cooper, Julia A. Rivera
Drew, Stephanie Richards, Renae Rogers, Jonathan Schroeder, and Kari C.W. Williams. IPUMS U.S.A.: Version 16.0 [dataset] Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2025. * In the Nov. 2025 Redfin survey conducted by Ipsos, young property buyers was defined
as Gen Z or millennials who own their home.