Study: DC millennials care most about jobs, homeownership, starting families

WASHINGTON - The Kogod School of Business at American University launched a research project to find out more about millennials, what they want from life and work, and if nation's capital is a place where they can get it.

This study defined a millennial as someone born between 1981 and 1999. It found that many millennials would like to buy homes and start families - something you might not expect.

"The things that millennials care about are the same things that all other generations that preceded them care about," said Erran Carmel, interim dean of the Kogod School of Business. "They care about job security, they care about an easy way to get to work and they care about health care."

The study also created a Millennial Index, a way to score a city based in five major categories: jobs, affordability, career, amenities and people. It also shows how they all stack up for millennials in a particular town.

So what do millennials think of the findings and the stereotypes out there about them?

"I'm still in grad school. I'm still definitely not getting married or having children, if ever," said Maita, a 27-year-old millennial.

"We want to find something that we're passionate about and we'll go from job to job looking for that passion, and I think that could be true," said 24-year-old Natalie.

According to their index, it turns out that those surveyed view the Washington D.C. area to be 25 percent more friendly to millennials than the average United States city.