Younger people also tend to be renters, leaving them more exposed to rising rents than older generations, who are more likely to be homeowners. They often buy used cars, meaning they have borne the brunt of used-vehicle prices that are up 26 percent over the past year, according to the Labor Department. (Baby boomers are more likely to buy new cars, which have gone up in price but not as much.) And while people of all ages are being affected by higher food prices, young adults tend to dedicate more of their money to restaurant meals.
Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, a housing data firm, said her millennial friends regularly talk about rising prices and goods shortages but don’t seem as frightened as older generations. Part of that, she thinks, may be because they don’t have memories of the last time when inflation was bad — unlike baby boomers, who were just entering the work force during the “Great Inflation” of the 1970s and early 1980s. (Members of Generation X mostly missed the Great Inflation but came of age during a period when inflation remained higher than in the 2000s.)
Many young adults have also saved money and paid down student loans during the pandemic, when they were stuck at home and, in some cases, receiving government relief checks. That may have put them in a better financial position to handle higher prices, at least for a while.
But not everyone is able to navigate the moment easily.
“One friend has a big family, she’s a millennial, and she said her grocery bill is impacting her ability to spend money elsewhere,” Ms. Wolf said.
Even within generations, rising prices don’t hit everyone the same way. Young parents like Ms. Wolf’s friend dedicate far more of their monthly budgets to groceries than people without children, and more than older parents, who tend to be more stable financially. Low-income families of all generations spend more on housing, gas and other essentials than wealthier families.
Then there are the smaller items that together can add up. Most Americans don’t go to a laundromat, for example, but those who do — a group that’s heavily skewed toward young people — spend hundreds of dollars a year there, and have seen their costs go up nearly 7 percent over the past year.
The good news for younger workers is that it isn’t just prices that are going up; pay is rising, too, especially for less-skilled workers and the very young. But for the typical worker between 25 and 34 years old, price increases have been outpacing wage gains in recent months.
Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, a housing data firm, said her millennial friends regularly talk about rising prices and goods shortages but don’t seem as frightened as older generations. Part of that, she thinks, may be because they don’t have memories of the last time when inflation was bad — unlike baby boomers, who were just entering the work force during the “Great Inflation” of the 1970s and early 1980s. (Members of Generation X mostly missed the Great Inflation but came of age during a period when inflation remained higher than in the 2000s.)
Many young adults have also saved money and paid down student loans during the pandemic, when they were stuck at home and, in some cases, receiving government relief checks. That may have put them in a better financial position to handle higher prices, at least for a while.
But not everyone is able to navigate the moment easily.
“One friend has a big family, she’s a millennial, and she said her grocery bill is impacting her ability to spend money elsewhere,” Ms. Wolf said.
Even within generations, rising prices don’t hit everyone the same way. Young parents like Ms. Wolf’s friend dedicate far more of their monthly budgets to groceries than people without children, and more than older parents, who tend to be more stable financially. Low-income families of all generations spend more on housing, gas and other essentials than wealthier families.
Then there are the smaller items that together can add up. Most Americans don’t go to a laundromat, for example, but those who do — a group that’s heavily skewed toward young people — spend hundreds of dollars a year there, and have seen their costs go up nearly 7 percent over the past year.
The good news for younger workers is that it isn’t just prices that are going up; pay is rising, too, especially for less-skilled workers and the very young. But for the typical worker between 25 and 34 years old, price increases have been outpacing wage gains in recent months.