[caption id="" align="alignright" width="322"] Mark DiOrio / Observer-Dispatch MeriEsther Luce relocated to Utica four years ago after living in Seattle.[/caption]

There’s something different about Utica from when MeriEsther Luce lived here 12 years ago.

When love brought her from big-city life in Seattle back to Utica – a place she swore she’d never live again – in 2012, she saw a change.

“I noticed there’s a lot more culture, a lot more diversity,” Luce said. “There were a lot of younger people from late 20s to early 30s that were moving back. … They were bringing cool businesses and trying to make it more alive and versatile.”

Luce, 35, is just one of the rising number of young adults living in Oneida County in recent years.

The number of people ages 20 to 34 is increasing nationwide as baby boomers’ children are reaching adulthood, but there also is a growing number of this group moving into Oneida County, said Dale Miller of the Oneida County Planning Department.

Countywide, the number of people in that age range increased from an estimated 42,132 in 2010 to 44,047 in 2014, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

During that time, 19,959 people in that age range moved out of the county.

But 26,230 – more than 6,000 more – moved in, according to statistics from the American Community Survey.

As this number continues to rise, some believe a higher quality of life and increase in opportunity is the reason behind it.

And with more than 1,500 new jobs expected in Marcy from GE and the Austrian chip fabrication company AMS in the near future, the trend is expected to continue.

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