Philly's ideal for millennials - we just need to sell it

I know, we are all getting tired of talking about nothing but millennials - unless, of course, you are a millennial. But when it comes to the economy, the transition to one that is millennial-driven is well underway, and the trend will continue for quite some time.

That's actually a very good thing for the Philadelphia economy. Believe it or not, this region has almost all the qualities millennials look for when considering where to live. Unfortunately, that fact remains a secret - something we have to change.

First of all, who are the millennials? The authors who coined the term, William Strauss and Neil Howe, considered those born between 1982 and 2004 part of the generation. There has been debate about the starting and ending points, so let's simply assume millennials are those now in their late teens to early 30s.

When it comes to the economy, this is the group that matters more and more - and, soon, most. Their population now exceeds the baby-boom generation. They are becoming the largest segment of the workforce and by the end of the decade will constitute more than 45 percent of those employed.

They are entering the segment of their careers where incomes tend to rise in an accelerating manner, so their spending decisions will drive consumer demand and business-production decisions. A growing number are in their household-formation years, and their housing decisions - where to live and whether to buy or rent - will define the market. Very simply, they are replacing baby boomers as the driving force in the economy.

If Philadelphia is to grow faster and take its place as a truly world-class city, it will have to both attract this generation into the region and retain the large number of college students who are already studying here.

Can we succeed in doing that? Absolutely, as the characteristics that millennials look for when deciding where to live are already in place.

Recently, Abodo, a millennial-owned apartment-search start-up, issued a research study called "Living the Millennial Dream." It looked at what millennials want when considering where to live. The results should bode well for Philadelphia's future.

Not surprisingly, a robust job market is the most important factor when determining locational desirability. But affordable rent and housing rank two and three, which is good for our reasonably priced region. Other key factors, such as parks or hiking trails, local (non-chain) restaurants, "quality pizza" (I'm not kidding), walkability, revitalized downtown, ethnic food (they like to eat out), concert or music venues, and convenient public transit are all available here.

The one key factor that is in question is high-quality public education. This factor will grow in importance as the group ages. I have written, as have others, that for Philadelphia to reach world-class status, the public-education system must improve.

But there are many good schools in the city, and in any event this characteristic currently ranks only seventh. None of the millennial age groups, even the 29-34 category, placed high-quality public education in the top five. And maybe it's most critical that, when Abodo evaluated the 20 best cities for millennials, only Seattle had a top-ranked public-education system.

So, which cities have the desired characteristics, and where does Philadelphia rank?

The report used 20 "qualities" and subjectively determined whether a city has them. There was no city with all the qualities but one had 19 out of 20; Philadelphia. It ranked at the top, ahead of Boston, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, and Dallas.

Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between which cities have the desired qualities and which are the most desired cities. As a preferred location, Philadelphia came out 17th, just ahead of Orlando; Pittsburgh; and Columbus, Ohio. New York; San Francisco; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Los Angeles were the top five. Though there may be lots of characteristics millennials look for, when push comes to shove it's all about jobs.

With millennials taking center stage in the economy, Philadelphia is well-positioned to attract and retain them. But it needs to sell its attractiveness an awful lot better.

If Philadelphia succeeds in getting out the word about how good a place the region is for millennials to live and work, job growth will accelerate. That will create the image that you can move to Philadelphia to find work. That will attract more residents, which will generate more business growth and hiring, and the positive growth cycle will become entrenched.

The potential is there, but government and businesses must work together to ensure that it happens.

jnaroff@phillynews.com