Minneapolis ranked third among 20 U.S. cities that are most appealing to Millennial or Generation Y workers—those in the 20 to 30 age range, according to a recently released report.
 
Meanwhile, Fridley-based Medtronic ranked third among the 20 “best Gen Y employers”—those that have been able to woo that generation of workers.
 
The lists were compiled by Seattle-based compensation research firm PayScale and Boston-based research firm Millennial Branding.
 
To find the “best Gen Y cities,” Payscale and Millennial Branding considered Gen Y employment-related data, including median pay, wage increases over the last three years, and commute times. They surveyed about 500,000 Millennials, those born between 1982 and 1993, about their jobs.
 
According to the report, Millennials working in Minneapolis recieve a median annual compensation of $42,800 and have seen their wages grow by an average of 3.3 percent since 2009—both higher than the national averages of $39,700 and 25 percent, respectively. Average commute time for local Gen Y workers is about 20 minutes, the same as the average commute time for the country overall. Twenty-three percent of the city’s total workers are Millennials, the report found.
 
Seattle topped the list and was followed by Houston. Washington, D.C., and Boston trailed Minneapolis to round out the top five.
 
In addition to recognizing the best cities, Payscale also identified 20 companies that are attractive to Millennials.
 
Medtronic ranked third, behind California-based technology giants Qualcomm and Google.
 
In compiling the best employers list, the report took into consideration factors including median pay for Millennials, percentage of Gen Y employees for a given employer, percentage of survey respondents who indicated they are either “extremely satisfied” or “fairly satisfied” in their job, percentage of respondents who indicated that their job is “not stressful” or “relaxing,” and percentage of respondents who indicated that they are able to fully determine their own schedule and time off with or without advanced notice.
 
The study found that at Medtronic, the median annual compensation for Millennials—who make up 27 percent of the work force—totals $63,500. Seventy-four percent of the company’s Gen Y workers have high job satisfaction, 19 percent have low stress levels, and 83 percent have a flexible schedule, according to the report.
 
Nationally, Gen Y workers don’t tend to have jobs inside the biggest U.S. companies, the study found. The highest concentration of Millennials, 47 percent, work for companies with fewer than 100 employees, followed by medium-sized companies that have between 100 and 1,500 employees (30 percent). The fewest, 23 percent, work in companies with more than 1,500 employees.
 
To view the full report, click here.