What generation has the lowest income?
Gen Z has experienced higher poverty rates than millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers, according to the KIDS COUNT Data Center, but Gen Alpha is the poorest generation to date.
Unsurprisingly, Gen Z has the lowest average net worth of any generation. As they are just getting started on their careers and haven't had much time to accumulate wealth, this makes perfect sense. According to the Federal Reserve, individuals under the age of 35 have a median net worth of around $39,000.
Younger Americans (millennials and Gen Zers, or those born in 1981 or later) had greater family wealth, on average, than Gen Xers (born between 1965 and 1980) and baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) did when both generations were close to the same average age (33-34).
Highest median income in the U.S.
That would be Gen X. According to the data, Gen X has the highest median incomes in the country. And according to Statistica, in 2022, 45-54 year-olds also had the highest U.S. median household income by age — $101,500.
Data Dive: Gen Z women are struggling the most with stress, mental health issues | Ipsos.
Gen Zers face greater obstacles to financial success
Not only are their wages lower than their parents' earnings when they were in their 20s and 30s, but they are also carrying larger student loan balances.
Gen Z is richer than just a few years ago—and much richer than their parents at the same age—but everything costs more and they have more debt, Pew study reveals. Gen Z is making more money than their parents at their age, but they still have to deal with higher costs of buying a home and college.
Key Insights. Financial literacy tends to be low within each of the five generations, but particularly so among Gen Z. Two-thirds of Gen Z could answer only 50% or less of the index questions correctly. Within Gen Z, financial literacy tends to be lowest among those who have never attended college.
While Millennials, as a generation, are wealthier than Baby Boomers were (as is Generation X, it should be pointed out), two other facts remain true: Millennials in the 90th percentile, or Top 10%, have 20% more wealth than similar Baby Boomers did at the age of 35.
The Silent Generation, also known as the Traditionalist Generation, is the Western demographic cohort following the Greatest Generation and preceding the baby boomers. The generation is generally defined as people born from 1928 to 1945.
Which generation is best with money?
Statistically broken down into generations, Gen Z (ages 18-25) saves an average of 14% while millennials (26-42), Gen Xers (43-55) and baby boomers (56-75) save an average of 12%, per CNBC.
Millennials show the quickest typing speeds on average, 56.50 wpm for males and 55.00 wpm for females. However, baby boomers have the slowest average typing speeds, 38.00 wpm for males and 43.60 wpm for females.
Among solo households, they own more homes. And by the end of this decade, a 2020 study by the business consulting firm McKinsey found, women are poised to control much of the $30 trillion in wealth expected to be possessed by baby boomers.
Compared with older generations today, the Gallup-WFF study said members of Gen Z are much more likely to report experiencing negative emotions such as stress, anxiety and loneliness.
Millennials (and the kids born after them) are currently being called the “unhealthiest generation” in human history—facing diagnoses, mysterious illnesses and conditions that our ancestors or their parents never faced.
Young adults in America like Hannah are reporting higher stress levels than older generations, with 18- to 34-year-olds saying their average stress level is a 6 out of 10, compared with a 3.4 among people ages 65 and older, APA's 2023 Stress in America survey found.
McKinsey's research shows that nearly 25% of Gen Zers don't expect to retire, and their reasons are pretty practical. Many think the high cost of living and debt will keep them working well into their retirement years.
Millennials Got Cheaper Mortgages Than Their Parents
“As Gen Z looks to buy their starter homes in the next few years, they will face both high rates and high prices. It may be years before the housing market is affordable again,” Allison explains.
Most Gen Zs consider themselves job hoppers. Gen Zs are taking work by storm—with increased demands and heightened expectations. They also have tremendous job mobility and majorities of them say they are likely to quit or hop to new jobs for all kinds of reasons.
Most Americans consider a $75k to $100k income to be middle class for a family of 4.
Is 75k a year middle class?
Being middle class in America is defined as making between $38,133 and $114,400 in 2023, according to Pew Research. Going by these metrics, $74,000 would definitely be considered middle class, but some members of Gen Z do not think that's the case.
A climate crisis, a flagging economy, and generational trauma have made the prospect of parenthood unappealing for many Gen Zers.
According to our research, millennials are the most educated generation in American history. Approximately 38 percent of millennials have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 32 percent of Generation X and 15 percent of baby boomers when they were the same age.
Gen Z will represent 27% of the workforce by the year 2025. But with more than one in four saying they lack confidence in their financial knowledge and skills, Gen Z is the least financially confident generation. The lack of confidence shows in their investment strategies.
One of the more downbeat economic themes in recent years has been the calculation that millennials would be the first generation to be worse off than their parents. But recent research casts some doubt on that theory.
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