My husband (a millennial) comes from NYC. All family are in NYC. He didn’t go west of Philadelphia until we married and moved to the Mountain West except one year in a college town in the upper south and a trip to Atlanta. He had lived in and traveled in many major European cities though. I am thus very familiar through in-laws with the NYC area myopia!
I’d just add that there are also great places for millennials where they have jobs, own homes, raise children, and have normal middle-class (from working class to upper middle class) lifestyles than just those types listed above.
I know thriving, non-elite profession millennials doing well as teachers, police officers, electricians, doctors, nurses, graphic designers, and assorted business people in: St. Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines, Omaha, Birmingham, Lincoln, Denver, Cheyenne, Casper, Columbia (MO), Jackson (MI not WY where you basically do now have to be rich due to gentrification by Californians!) There are so many more.
There are great places to live across the nation! Journalists who write about millennials often seem to focus on a particular subset and make that stand for the group: liberal-leaning, elite college educated but often with debt, often went into more “creative” (widely-understood) fields. Whereas I know many people age 30-45 who were state school educated without much debt, have the normal sort of jobs that exist basically everywhere including the trades, get married, raise children, etc. They live all over and have good lives. They are not, however, the stereotypical lives depicted in the shows and movies that are supposedly about millennials.
Okay, almost all millennial men I know do have a thing for craft beers, but that could be a coincidence.
My older daughter was born in the late 80s I think she is better off than I was her age. She bought a 3 bedroom in Brooklyn before the price went crazy and has 2.25% mortgage. The apartment has already appreciated quite a bit. She graduated without any debt and is a MD at a large bank. Her husband has a good job at a tech company. They have a toddler and I am hoping for a second one.
D2 is 5 years younger. She is a seco d year associate at a major law firm. She is a bit disadvantaged because of her law school loans, but it houle be paid off in few years. I am not sure if she will do as well as her sister financially, but she will be fine.
Most of my kids friends are also doing well. They all have fairly serious jobs and live in nice places. One thing to note is I don’t know any of them is a stay home parent.
I do notice that most men drink craft beer and they are very hands on with their kids.
I would like to point out issues like women’s health, LGBTQ protections, and many other issues that are important to a higher proportion of Gen-Zs and Millennials.
Those three states have pretty bad records on those issues. So maybe what’s keeping Millennials from moving to Idaho, Utah, or Texas is the fear that they or their kids would not have access to safe women’s care clinic, that if their kid was LGBTQ, the school district would not be allowed to protect the child (for example, Texas has a law prohibiting schools and school districts from having rules or policies against bullying LGBTQ kids because of their sexuality).
Many of the cheapest states have the most anti-LGBTQ laws, and the most restrictive laws regarding women’s health.
These include:
Again, as a member of a religious minority whose kid is LGBTQ, I would never move to any of these states. As the father of a daughter, I would never moved to any of these states.
Here is a map of states by how many laws and policies they have either protecting or discriminating against LGBTQ people. Any state which is red or orange is unsafe, any state which is yellow has issues.
Unless you can provide some sort of data to back this claim up, this is a generalization which is, frankly, offensive. You are dismissing issues related to the health and safety of people as though they were nothing more than some preferences of effete arts majors.
Again, this is a huge generalization.
I have actually studied and worked at five public universities, three in the Midwest, one on the East Coast, and one in the West. I have taught hundreds of students, and have had assorted other interactions with them. I have taught Gen-Xer, Millennials, and Gen-Zs. Mostly in the Midwest, but some in the East Coast, and some in the West.
I lived in suburban Chicagoland for almost two decades, and most of my friends, including Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials would refuse to move to states that have anti-LGBTQ laws and laws that restrict women’s access to health care.
The vast majority of them attended state schools, like UIUC, UIC, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, MSU, UMN, Rutgers, Penn State, OSU, UNM, assorted UCs, and a few more which I cannot remember for now. I actually know very few people who attended an “elite” East Coast college.
The vast majority of them work in jobs like teachers, social workers, assorted tech and office jobs, you know, “normal sort of jobs”. Other are doctors, engineers, lawyers, and such. Of course, a good chunk are academics, almost all teaching at public universities.
The only ones who have degrees in ““creative” (widely-understood) fields.” are working as teachers, clerks, etc, except one who is a lawyer. The academics are mostly in Engineering/CS and science.
I think you misunderstood my point. I was pointing out that Millennials are diverse. I was not saying that they all do x, y, or z or believe in x, y, or z. Quite the contrary. I said journalists often paint them as if they are all the same.
I have lived in 12 states from coast to coast. The longest I have lived in any state is 7 years, so I too know many people. What is important to you and your peer group is not always important to others across a wide country and including all generations.
I simply pointed out I know millennials doing well and living normal lives (defining normal as not being broke or unable to find housing, having a job, starting a family if desired) across the country.
I think you are reading something into this which was not there.
FWIW, I read your post the way you intended it to be and saw nothing wrong with it. I think you’re both saying the same thing actually - and it fits my experiences as well.
Never mind the long logical analysis that I wrote. I read what I read, and if somebody says that they meant something else, the actual logic of the statements doesn’t matter, just the intention.
However, it is worth testing whether the premise that journalists focus on liberal people with creative majors from elite colleges is true. If it is true than it doesn’t matter whether I like the statement or not.
The largest and most involved article about this that I could find was from the the New York Times. If any media outlet would be focusing on liberal graduates of elite colleges who majored in creative fields, it would be the NYT.
In this article about the financial woes of millennials, the author interviewed a bunch of millennials who had various financial difficulties. All did have debt, that’s true.
However, while their major was not included, nor their alma mater, few journalists can resist mentioning when a graduate of, say, “an Ivy”, ends up poor, despite paying $280K for their degree. The only mention was of a students who attended UCLA for their PhD. UCLA is very much a “state school”.
However, the article included a number who did not attend college, and were trained in trades. So that already does not fit your description. Most of the rest had “real jobs”, and very few had “artsy” jobs, because there are indeed some people like that.
Interviewees lived in (and worked as): Atlanta, GA (artist) , Alpharetta, GA (car sales), Minneapolis, MN (actor), Rochester Hills, MI (watchmaker), Salt Lake City (research - couple), NYC (producer), Portland, ME (retail manager), Hayden, CO (bank manager), Sunnyvale, CA (HR consulting), Brooklyn (teacher/comedian - teaching degree), Dallas (graphic designer), Peoria, AZ (wedding photographer), LA (finances), Denver (IT), Orlando (VP small company), Queens (Govt), Dorchester, MA (Concierge), Boston (bank), Indianapolis/NYC (start-up), ST Paul, MN (psychologist), Brooklyn (editor), Charlemont, MA (retail), Arden Hills, MN (consultant), Port Orchard, WA (online retail), Altamonte Springs, FL (photographer), Austin, TX (MD), LA (money coach), Indianapolis (researchers, IU), Nashville (social worker).
So perhaps they may be liberal, but the majority of millennials are liberal leaning, and they are mostly in cities, but the vast majority of the USA live in cities, and it’s even stronger for millennials. So at least for this major article, and a top journal, they are not focusing on liberal millennials who attended an elite colleges and majored in a creative field.
Sorry about the double post, but time to go back to the main theme of this thread - are millennials broke?
Well, why don’t we look at what is written be people who actually collect large amounts of data, from across the country, across the political spectrum, and across majors.
Here are two research papers, one published in one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the USA, if not the most prestigious, and the next by the Federal Reserve.
Spoiler alert: their conclusions are that the Millennials are indeed worse off than Gen-X or Boomers.
So no, the article above is wrong, and, according to the comments on Twitter by professionals (firewalls, and such), they do actually be the ones who are choosing a limited set of Millennials, which are nor really representative of the generation at all.
My millennial D feels broke. Objectively she’s not. I think it has a lot to do with her age (an early teen) in '08. I’m not sure she will ever feel financially secure.
This is our experience too. The same son I mentioned above to makes 4x what I did at his age has cited the cliche about never being able to afford homeownership. I’ve then hopped online and easily found great homes in nearby suburbs that would cost far less proportionately than my first home, at a far lower interest rate and a far shorter commute. His response is but they aren’t in the city. His basis for comparison is buying his own brownstone right in the urban market, LOL.
It’s easy to feel poor when you limit your choices to the most expensive tastes. His friends also go out to expensive restaurants and bars most weekends. I considered Denny Grand Slam once a week a treat from my home made food at that age.
My daughter doesn’t feel broke, but feels like she is losing the race against inflation the past couple of years. Despite getting nice raises, they were not in line with prices increases. It is particularly bad in the very competitive and expensive rental market where she lives. (Many feel they not only can’t afford to buy a home but can’t afford rent to live where they want.)
That’s the case in our neighborhood too. Then again, our neighborhood is single-family homes in a high cost of living area and there aren’t that many renters. I don’t know how much the renters in our neighborhood pay, but I bet it’s a lot. Nice neighborhood, nice town, good schools, lots of amenities, etc.
Yes! It’s funny how people are so quick to jump on renters for being loud, not caring about the neighborhood, being disrespectful of neighbors, etc. But, they seem to forget that homeowners can be bad neighbors too. There is a house in my neighborhood, where the lawn is not maintained and it looks awful. I don’t know the people who live there, but my next door neighbor does and these people have lived in the neighborhood for 15 years. My D rented a room in a house and there is a house down the street, where the yard is full of junk. Plus, there was a car in the driveway with 3 flat tires that sat there for months. According to the neighbors, the person who owns this house has been living there for years and he’s a homeowner…
And don’t get me started on the neighbors behind us who are very nice, but use their power tools at 7 AM on a Sunday or 10 PM on a Monday night…And they are the original owners of the house…so they’ve been in the neighborhood for 30 years.
If it sounds like I’m picky, I’m not the only neighbor whose complained about a bad looking lawn or a neighbor using power tools at odd times. Plus, our next door neighbor, whose in his mid-forties, bought the home from his grandmother, so he spent a lot of time in our neighborhood growing up.
I have no problems with a natural lawn (better for the planet and all) so I might be that neighbor , but the rest I agree with.
The neighbor who doesn’t fit in in our neighborhood is just downright mean to others. It was funny when he got mad at a neighboring farmer for planting corn too close to his driveway. They had it surveyed. The driveway was actually about a foot and a half on the farmer’s property! He could have made him move it, but the rest of us are actually nicer and get along rather well even with our differences.
I don’t really have a huge issue with a natural lawn, but then again, the rest of the yard doesn’t look so good either, at least in the case I’m talking about.
That’s too bad about your mean neighbor. Some people have no respect for others.
My SIL had a neighbor who would make a lot of noise (mowing their lawn at odd hours, always using power tools, revving up an old car late at night, etc.), much more then anyone else in the neighborhood, yet he was the one who would constantly leave notes on neighbor’s doors about them making noise, when it wasn’t even that loud or they would use their lawnmowers/power washers at 11 AM on a Saturday, which is not an inappropriate time to do that …people are so odd.
Getting back to broke millennials…I know some millennials who are doing very well. I know some who aren’t made of money, but are still thriving and doing what they want.
Sharing my anecdotal data on millennials–I’ve got one who does very well and loves what she does (which is great). I’ve got another who also loves what she does (actor) but works several jobs to partially support herself and probably couldn’t live in the place where she lives if she didn’t have a partner and parents who were willing to help subsidize her portion of the rent.
My millennial daughter is living her best life. She makes a lot more than I did at her age (I was a poor grad student). A large chunk of her spending is on experiences (i.e. travel, concerts, etc); she and her BF are currently vacationing in the South of France. She rents a fabulous apartment in a trendy, downtown neighborhood. The BF is ready to settle down and buy a house in the suburbs, but D isn’t ready to put down roots yet. She is completely content with the carefree lifestyle.
Millenial spending patterns differ significantly older generations ( electronics, travel, dining out), so that may account for why some feel broke. Different priorities in spending.
, but the rest I agree with.