Millennials may be moving to Nashville in droves, but according to a recent study from Realtor.com, it’s northwestern neighbor is even “hotter“ among a generation in search of affordable homes close to work and nightlife.

Clarksville made the site’s Top 10 Hottest Cities for Young Millennials, coming in near the top at No. 3!

Millennials are expected to make around 45-percent of all mortgage purchases this year. The question is, what can they afford to buy?

Right now, the median list price in Clarksville is just over $226,000.

“For so many years, we were talking about the fact that maybe [Millennials] would just be “generation rent,“ said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist for Realtor.com. “That is turning out not to be the case, but it did take them a little bit longer to get into the housing market. We’re starting to see them come out in force.“

Hale said the cities where Millennials are choosing to buy homes is a “good leading indicator“ of which markets are hot, and which ones are not — and Clarksville, she said, is HOT.

“Clarksville, Tenn., was one of the top markets for Millennial buyers, and the reason for that is affordability,“ Hale explained. “We find that millennials are very price sensitive — they’re young, they don’t have a lot of equity built up. Many of them are first-time home buyers. At this point, their incomes are still relatively low compared to where they might expect them to be later on in their peak earning years.“

Experts say millennials are looking for the perfect balance between getting a good deal and being close to amenities that lead to a good life.

“They’re definitely looking for space, surprisingly,“ Hale said. “So we don’t see them in the downtown areas that were much talked about where they were flocking when they were in their very young 20s. But otherwise, they look for a lot of the same things that other generations look for.“

Millennials are looking for the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms as older generations, Hale said. However, they are a little more sensitive to being close to amenities like vibrant nightlife and grocery stores.

The group also appreciates Clarksville’s proximity to Nashville. Experts say they want to be close to job opportunities and don’t mind a “fixer-upper“ or a chilly climate.

Curious what cities topped the list? Just ahead of Clarksville are Duluth, Minnesota and Evansville, Indiana. To see Realtor.com’s Top 10 Hottest Cities for Young Millennials, click here.

News 2 tracks the historic growth in Middle Tennessee with our special Nashville 2019 reports. Click here to learn more.