The linked page says that they live in upstate NY, and the wife makes $125k working “remotely at a job she loves, which pays her a big-city salary despite her medium-cost-of-living location.” So it looks like they are not tied to the location because of her job.
Another example of the impact of student debt (Fortune) [$64k debt, $166k/year income in upstate NY]
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Oh that’s right-- but its a new salary for her. Is it a new job? They bought their house in 2020 (during covid?) so maybe if her job is new they couldn’t easily, or didn’t want to move (she says they can’t afford a bigger place or one in a higher COL area especially with current interest rates). Who knows. Maybe they chose to live there to be near family??
What do they consider Upstate? The US Census Bureau data shows the NYS counties with median incomes over $100k are all in/around NYC. Once you get north of Westchester (which is still Downstate NY), the median household income drops pretty quickly. It’s ~$80k around Dutchess (where the NYC rail line ends), ~$68k in Albany County, and ~$60k in Sullivan County. Even if the wife’s income recently doubled, they were earning more than the median income for most NYS counties.
If they can’t pay off their student loans on that income, something else is going on. Maybe they overextended on a house, bought brand new cars, and/or are maxing out their retirement accounts. I think paying off student debt should be budgeted with those other things, not thrown in as an additional line item after they’ve budgeted for all their wants. Did they say they can’t afford kids on that income? A lot of New Yorkers are raising families on a lot less.
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Pre-school teaching positions typically expect a degree. In some states a bachelor’s degree is strongly preferred over associates.
It’s extremely common for new grads work in jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. Not everyone has the option to start out at their dream job. Instead many start out at what is available. For example, US Census ACM survey (FEDERAL RESERVE BANK of NEW YORK ) found that 45% of 4-year college grads aged 22 to 27 were either unemployed (5%) or working in a job that does not traditionally require a bachelor’s degree (40%). The specific numbers varied by major. Highest was 75% for criminal justice majors. Lowest was 11% for nursing majors.
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Federal government employees, fresh out of college, generally start out at the GS-05 level with a starting base salary of between 32,000 and 42,000, depending on local area, and still manage to somehow make it work. People need to try to live within their means, especially when they are younger and probably earning less. Not everyone can have everything right away.
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As an aside (but along those lines) a friend’s daughter just married her now husband a few weeks ago, right after he graduated from Harvard with his MBA. He, and about a third of his graduating class, did not have jobs at graduation time. 
If the wife’s job was was in NYC, and they bought a house in 2020, it is very possible that their current mortgage per month is less or the same as an apartment was in NYC.
There is much we don’t know in this article about exactly where this money they earn is allocated. Without that info, really, this article is worthless.
What is clear is that paying off the debt is not a high priority for this couple.
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My sense is that some young people no longer want to make the lifestyle adjustments that come along with having kids earlier in your career. It’s not that it is impossible for them to do it - they just don’t want to. In earlier generations, people raised kids while making do - now that doesn’t seem as appealing. Of course, many young people today just don’t want kids and I think some use the cost as an excuse so they don’t have to legitimize their choice to friends/family who may be pressuring them.
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The article is lacking in many details. Wondering if, during covid, when many fled the City for safer, rural places, they moved out of town and her H maybe lost his job in the process (many did during covid) and had to take whatever he could get in the area. And if her salary suddenly now almost doubled, would hypothesize that this represents a job change. Purely conjecture, but seems possible.
For some reason, it’s journalistic practice to focus on the financial difficulties of high income people while pooh-poohing the struggles of the actual lower middle class or poor.
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The author’s perspective and that of the subjects of the article are highly personal. It doesn’t have a single reference outside of this anecdote and conclusion cliff- jumping trying to pass as journalism.
Charles Schwab has a current survey that is a broader indicator of how different generations in America perceive wealth and experience wealth. It’s called the Modern Wealth Survey. It just came out. You can google it if you are interested.
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Not all millennials are high income crying poverty.
Here is the 2022 version:
The demographic snapshot on the second to last page indicates that the survey group (all generations) had median household income of $68k and median investable assets of $75k.
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No not all millennials are in this situation, but just saying that this author apparently has a focus on issues of millennials. Some will identify, some will not.
Sad that even six figures isn’t enough these days
Sad that even six figures isn’t enough these days
It depends on your expenses, debts, savings, and expectations. Six figures is well above the median household income, and more than enough for a large portion of families. However, no amount will be enough for every circumstance. The article cherry picks a unique situation that is by no means representative of all persons. The more extreme the news story sounds, the more views it gets, and the more the news organization earns.
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A completely non-scientific thought, but my observation is that the many of the later generations of Americans have become hyper focused on “Keeping up with the Joneses” on material things, particularly housing. Bigger is better. Each kid needs their own room and their own bathroom, and a craft room, and a media room. Older generations bought their first house after marriage and stayed there until they retired to Florida or died. Many of us parents “got by” sharing a room with a sibling and battling additional siblings for bathroom time in the only bathroom in the house. Now we have kids who are completely unprepared to live with others in a college setting, and OMG share a bathroom!
I don’t think you see the equivalent of giant American homes in most other developed countries (nor the attitude of always having to move up to something better). Families live in much smaller spaces and don’t think anything of it. Here, it’s considered a negative to have to live in an apartment while in other countries, families live in them or other forms of attached housing for their entire lives without any kind of stigma.
The desire to have the latest and greatest (and biggest) in U.S. affects many people’s ability to get ahead financially. If the couple in the article want to have kids, they should have one - and then make cuts in their lifestyle in order to accommodate the additional costs of having a child. Most of us have had to do the same, as well as think very hard about how many kids we could reasonably afford to have while still paying our bills. Welcome to adulthood.
Like others have said, the article lacks basic information (not sure what’s happened to journalism these days). “Upstate NY” is an ambiguous term. Big difference between the COL in Westchester County and Oneida County. They could also move to another state where the COL is more reasonable.
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The husband is not making fast food wages. Here are the national statistics for fast food workers: Annual Wage (2) $ 27,930 (MEDIAN) $ 35,350 (90th percentile). A salary of $41,000 is not huge, but even with two people making that amount, it produces an $80,000 a year household salary. In my area, living under your means and taking care of $64,000 in debt over 10 years on 80K is possible–but you have to prioritize the debt. I paid off my debt right before I turned 40, and we were very frugal about cars, the size and type of house we lived in–and most importantly, no “vacations” except for relative visits. We had a child during that time, too, and gave her a good education.
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Part of it is also NIMBYism. And land prices. But an average house today is much bigger than 50 years ago.
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