HARTFORD -- Valentina Birritta grew up in Wethersfield and is now a freshman at CCSU. She can't wait to graduate so she can leave the state of Connecticut -- for good.
"I definitely want to move out. I’ve always hated Connecticut because it’s kind of depressing to me. There’s not much to do. There’s not much night life. There’s not many activities for young people to engage in around here," Birritta said.
She said if she moved just two hours away, she could be living in New York or Boston, or even move somewhere warmer like Florida.
"I really wouldn’t think of coming back," Birretta said. "There’s nothing memorable about here that will make me want to come back. I would never say 'Oh I want to come back to Connecticut,"
Census Bureau data shows that more people are leaving than coming in but Hartford businesses are doing a lot to attract millennials, like promoting workplaces like Aetna.
"Millennials will comprise roughly fifty percent of the workforce by 2020," said Kathleen Gioffre, vice president and head of talent acquisition globally for Aetna.
For 27 year-old Bo Callis, he moved her from Texas, and said he loves living and working in Hartford.
"I can go to the beach 45 minutes away. I can go to that nation's largest hotel and casino," Callis said. "It's so close and convenient to New York and Boston. It's the perfect location, without actually giving up in the lifestyle and space that I'm used to."