Amid reports of a tough job market and rising costs of living, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that majorities of Americans say young adults have it harder today financially than their parents’ generation did.
| Buying a home | Harder | Easier |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 87 | 6 |
| 2021 | 70 | 16 |
| Paying for college | Harder | Easier |
| 2026 | 82 | 7 |
| 2021 | 71 | 14 |
| Saving for the future | Harder | Easier |
| 2026 | 82 | 6 |
| 2021 | 72 | 11 |
| Finding a job | Harder | Easier |
| 2026 | 64 | 15 |
| 2021 | 39 | 40 |
The shares of U.S. adults who say it’s harder for young adults now to achieve several financial milestones have gone up since 2021. The biggest jump is in the share saying it’s harder to find a job.
Most adults (64%) say it’s harder for young people to find a job today, up from 39% who said the same in 2021. Just 15% say it’s easier, down from 40% five years ago. Another 20% say it’s about the same for young people today as it was for their parents.
Buying a home is another milestone that Americans say is harder for young adults these days: 87% say this today, up from 70% in 2021. In recent years, home prices in the U.S. have risen faster than young adults’ incomes, and fewer metropolitan areas around the country are classified as affordable for young adults.
In addition, Americans are about 10 percentage points more likely today than in 2021 to say it’s harder for young adults to pay for college and save for the future than it was for their parents.
We also asked about covering basic expenses, a financial milestone we didn’t ask about in 2021. In the new survey, 80% say this is harder for young adults today than it was for their parents. Only 6% say it’s easier and 13% say it’s about the same.
A 2024 Center analysis found that young adults in 2022 were more likely to have student loan debt than young adults in 1992. The value of student loan debt and mortgage debt also rose significantly over that period.
Differences by age
| Harder | Easier | About the same | Grouping | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All adults | 64 | 15 | 20 | All |
| Ages 18-29 | 75 | 12 | 12 | Age |
| 30-49 | 66 | 15 | 19 | Age |
| 50+ | 58 | 16 | 25 | Age |
Young adults themselves are more likely than older adults to say most financial milestones are more challenging today than in the past.
The age gap is largest when it comes to finding a job. Most adults ages 18 to 29 (75%) say this is harder for today’s young adults than it was for their parents’ generation. About two-thirds of those ages 30 to 49 (66%) and a smaller share of those 50 and older (58%) say the same.
Young adults are also more likely than other age groups to say that it’s harder today to buy a home, pay for college and cover basic expenses. But adults ages 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 are about equally as likely to say saving for the future is harder today.
While younger adults stand out from other age groups in feeling that things are harder now, the shares saying this across all age groups have generally trended upward since 2021.
How many young adults have reached these milestones?
In 2023, we looked at the shares of Americans who actually achieved certain financial benchmarks by age 21. The shares of 21-year-olds who were employed full-time, were financially independent or lived outside their parents’ home were all lower in 2021 than in 1980. For example, 42% of 21-year-olds in 1980 were financially independent, compared with 25% in 2021.
By age 25, the differences among these measures were smaller but still statistically significant.
Note: Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.
