More rich millennials are abandoning New York than any other state — and they're not the only ones fleeing the high cost of living

• Rich millennials are abandoning New York.
• It's the top state they're moving from, according to a new SmartAsset study citing data from 2015-2016.
• They're not the only ones — wealthy bankers in New York City are also fleeing the city's high cost of living in search of more affordable housing.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Rich millennials are over New York.

According to a new SmartAsset study, New York is the No. 1 state rich millennials are moving from. The report used data from the IRS' 2015-2016 tax year to take a look at the states wealthy millennials were moving to and from.

It defined rich millennials as people younger than 35 with an adjusted gross income of at least $100,000. SmartAsset ranked states by net migration, which it determined by subtracting the number of millennials moving out of the state from the number of millennials moving into the state.

It found that a net 4,867 rich millennials left New York during the one-year period — 10,048 moved into the state, while 14,915 moved out.

That's more than twice the number of rich millennials who, in the same time period, left Illinois, the state that saw the second-largest net decline in rich millennials (2,248). About 35% more rich millennials left New York than moved to California, which ranks as the state attracting the most rich millennials, AJ Smith, SmartAsset's vice president of Financial Education, told Business Insider.

Even their less affluent generational peers aren't drawn to New York — or at least not to New York City. A previous SmartAsset report tracked the top cities millennials were settling in, and New York City didn't even make the top 25.

Read more: New York is getting so expensive that even Wall Street bankers are bolting — and it's not the only major city the wealthy are abandoning

Rich millennials aren't the only wealthy demographic abandoning the state. New York City's high cost of living is causing multimillionaires — particularly wealthy bankers — to flee to more affordable states, John Aidan Byrne of the New York Post reported. In 2016, New York lost $8.4 billion because of residents moving to other states, according to Byrne.

According to Zillow, the city's median rent of $3,400 is twice the national median rent. The city's real-estate market has gotten so expensive that residents are living in vans or houseboats instead of traditional homes. And those who can buy are forgoing apartments in the sky for basements, where they can get more space for their money, reported Stefanos Chen for The New York Times.

SEE ALSO: The top 18 states rich millennials are moving to

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