Millennials have felt more financial strain than any other generation since the Great Depression.
Despite a decade of economic growth and decreasing unemployment, Americans born between 1981 and 1996 have less wealth and property, lower marriage rates, and fewer children, according to new data.
“Their economic fundamentals are fundamentally different,” Christopher Kurz, an economist at the Federal Reserve, told the Wall Street Journal.
Kurz and his colleagues found millennial households have an average net worth of $92,000, about 40% less than Generation X households — those born between 1965 and 1980 — in 2001 when adjusted for inflation. The millennial average is about 20% lower than baby boomer households — those born between 1946 and 1964 — in 1989.
Gen X men who worked full time and were the heads of their households made 18% more than millennial men and baby boomer men made 27% more when adjusted for inflation and other variables.
For women, Gen Xers had incomes 12% higher than millennials. Baby boomer women earned 24% more than their millennial counterparts.
About a third of millennials owned property in 2016, a steep drop from half of Gen Xers owning homes at similar ages in 2001, and about half of baby boomers in 1989.
Millennials, however, are better educated than the generations before them, though they have racked up more in student loans than previous generations.
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