Pixabay
You know how it seems like we’re always hearing about how broke Millennials are? It has nothing to do with their really bad spending habits. Okay, maybe it has something to do with Millennials’ poor financial decision-making, but it is also because they are making less money than the two generations that preceded them.
How do we know this? Because our friends over at cost information website HowMuch.net crunched the numbers recently and that’s what they discovered.
To make matters even worse financially for Millennials, they now account for more than half of all American workers. The other two main generations that make up the U.S. workforce, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, are making significantly more, especially when you break it down by geographic location, which is exactly what HowMuch.net did.
https://twitter.com/beepgonzalez/status/1031659201704157184
Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) through the US Census Bureau, they stack-ranked each generation from youngest to oldest, comparing median income levels for Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers in every state across the country.
As you can see below, Millennials literally make less money than baby boomers and Gen Xers in every single state in America, even in California with its ultra-high-paying tech industry.
Interestingly, Gen Xers also, for the most part, also make less than the generation that preceded them, the Baby Boomers. However, the pay gap between those two generations isn’t quite as extreme.
For example, in Pennsylvania the median income for Millennials is $38K compared to $53K for Gen Xers and $54K for Baby Boomers. In Texas, the gap goes from $35K to $50K to $53K. And in Colorado it goes from $38K to $56K to $60K.
https://twitter.com/ddefel_/status/1031227814966644736
Part of the reason for the gaps being different, according to HowMuch.net, is because salary growth usually stagnates by the time people turn 35. That’s why there is a such a big jump in income between Millennials and Gen Xers, but comparably less from Gen Xers to Baby Boomers.
That being said, if you are a Millenial, it looks like the states that value your talents the most are Massachusetts ($46K), Connecticut ($44K), Maryland ($43K), and New York ($42K). Just keep in mind the true cost of living in each location, which skews some of these numbers.
Suddenly, tweets like these don’t seem so ridiculous…
https://twitter.com/shipatadistance/status/1032212943205740544
https://twitter.com/geezus_og/status/1032368678635941889
Hey here's an idea if you don't want millennials to kill your industries based on frivolous spending maybe pay us enough that we actually have expendable income.
— Aaron Doodles (@AaronDoodles) August 27, 2018
Why does everyone blame millennials for businesses and industries failing? Maybe millennials are just tired of putting up with stupid products and services? We've got limited disposable income. We've gotta make it count.
— Jess 🖤🩶🤍💜 (@Geegabyte) August 20, 2018
https://twitter.com/carlyjennifer/status/1030529619580137472