The median millennial household pretax income was $71,566 in 2020, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Black millennials earn less, depending on the state. For example, New York Black millennials earn $51,163, while in Delaware, they earn an average of $40,886. But all millennials spend an average of $208.77 per day (or more than $76,200 annually), found a Sunmark Credit Union study. So it is no wonder millennials are having a hard time making ends meet.
A new survey found that nearly half of millennials — people between the ages of 25 and 40 — say they’re living paycheck to paycheck.
The survey, “The Pandemic’s Perfect Storm: Examining Covid-19’s Impact on Gen Z and Millennials,” was conducted by the AgingWell Hub with Edge Research to field the survey in partnership with Bank of America.
Only 32 percent of millennials said the statements “I can enjoy life because of the way I am managing my money” and “I am securing my financial future” described their situation in 2021 either completely or very well.
“Millennials are feeling crunched financially at just the age when previous generations would be hitting big milestones like getting married, having children, or buying a home,” Bloomberg reported.
Attitudes about the financial future were more favorable among racial minorities. While 39 percent of all millennials surveyed think they’ll enjoy a better life than their parents, 52 percent of Black/African-American millennials believed they would.
There was also a difference in how the genders viewed their financial situations. Millennial women felt they would have more financial obstacles ahead. Just 29 percent said they had money left at the end of the month. Only 21 percent said that they could handle an unexpected major expense. For men, those percentages were 42 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
“Very few young adults said they talked to their parents about money and had very little understanding of what their parents’ financial situation was,” Jeanne de Cervens, director of the AgingWell Hub, said.
The nationally representative survey of 1,174 people was conducted in October 2021 by the AgingWell Hub at Georgetown University’s Business for Impact, in conjunction with Bank of America.
