Millennials Financially Better Off Than Boomers at Same Stage: Study

While today’s younger generations have lived through numerous financial downturns, a new study has found that millennials are doing better financially than baby boomers and Generation Xers were at the same age.

According to a study conducted by LendingTree, millennials aged 26 to 41 had a median net worth of $84,941 in 2022, surpassing that of baby boomers at a comparable age in 1989, who had $58,101 banked, while Gen Xers in 2007 had a net worth of $78,333, both adjusted for inflation. The results indicate that millennials’ net worth is 46.2 percent higher than that of baby boomers and 8.4 percent greater than that of Gen Xers at comparable ages.

Midpoint millennials also boast a higher median cumulative income than their older counterparts. Those born in 1989 achieved a median income of $446,570 from 2014 to 2023 (ages 25 to 34). In contrast, when adjusted for inflation, the median cumulative incomes for midpoint Gen Xers and boomers during the same age range were $417,700 and $362,330, respectively.

“I think that the scars from the Great Recession and the pandemic have helped shape millennials’ views on money, forcing them to be more focused on their finances than other generations have had to be,” LendingTree chief credit analyst Matt Schulz said. “That focus has prompted them to learn more about money, get started with investing and savings earlier, become more entrepreneurial and make other financially focused moves that have helped set them up for success.”

It’s not all good news for millennials. High rent and home ownership costs whittle down finances considerably more than for their elders at the same age. In 2024, the inflation-adjusted median rent for 35-year-old millennials is $1,481, significantly higher than the $1,251 paid by midpoint Gen Xers in 2008 and the $1,174 paid by boomers in 1990.

Furthermore, according to LendingTree, a 20 percent down payment on a median-priced home in 2024 is $85,960, compared to inflation-adjusted amounts of $69,305 in 2008 and $57,107 in 1990.

Millennials were also more likely to own assets and carry debt than previous generations at the same stage in life. In 2022, 99.3 percent of millennials had assets, whereas 97.5 percent of Gen Xers and 93.8 percent of boomers held assets at similar ages. At the same time, millennials were marginally more likely to have debt, with 88.1 percent owing some form of debt in 2022, compared to 86.9 percent of Gen Xers and 85.8 percent of boomers at comparable ages.

Other recent research has found millennials are doing well financially due to the recent economic recovery. The Center for American Progress found earlier this year that Americans under 40 are outpacing other age groups in accumulated wealth, employment rates and wage growth after the coronavirus pandemic.

In four years, the average wealth of households under this age has grown by almost 50 percent since 2019, reaching $259,000 in the fourth quarter of 2023, up from $174,000 in the same period in 2019. Wealth decreased by 7 percent for households aged 40 to 54, while there was a 4 percent increase for those aged 55 to 69, and households aged 70 and above experienced a 15 percent growth during the same time frame.