Fact Brief · October 2026
Cost of Living for Gen Z
What is the ISSUE?
16%
of Americans — 55.3 million people — are 18 to 29 [1]
Do you face a different basic economy than your parents and grandparents did at your age? These facts will help you answer that question for yourself.
This brief compares young adults at the same age in three years — the latest year published, 2005 and 1985 — using one measurement series per line, so the comparison is apples to apples. Where a series starts later than 1985, it says so. Every number prints its own year.
Know the Terms
| Benchmark premium — the price of the second-lowest-cost silver plan on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, before any subsidy. | Cost-burdened — paying more than 30% of income for housing. |
| Dollars of the day — the figure as reported that year, not adjusted for inflation. | Householder — the person in whose name a home is owned or rented. "Under-35 households" are headed by someone under 35. |
| Living in a parent's home — in Census counts, an unmarried college student in a dorm is counted as living at home. | Median — the middle value: half above, half below. Not the average. |
| Price-to-income — median home price divided by median household income. 5 means the median home costs five times a year of median income. | Ratio, share — a cost divided by an income in the same year. Needs no inflation adjustment. |
| Real dollars — a figure adjusted for inflation, so we can compare past dollars to today. Tables say which year. | Transfers — money from government programs such as Social Security, food assistance or tax credits. "After taxes and transfers" counts them as income. |
| Underemployed — working in a job that typically does not require a college degree. It does not mean part-time. |
HOW TO READ THE TABLES
Each row is one measurement, taken the same way in each year shown. The three columns run newest first: the latest year published, then 2005, then 1985. The year sits inside the cell, because surveys report on different schedules. A dash means the series had not begun. The bracketed number links straight to the source; the same source is listed again at the end.
What Are the Facts?
INCOME — HIGHER AT THE SAME AGE, GENERATION AFTER GENERATION
| Real median household income, 2025 dollars — adjusted for inflation [2] | 2025 | 2005 | 1985 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Householder 25–34 | $94,880 | $74,460 | $67,010 |
| Householder under 25 | $60,870 | $45,220 | $40,200 |
| All households | $87,460 | $72,810 | $63,090 |
| Median income at ages 36–40, after taxes and transfers, vs. the generation before at the same age [3] | Millennials Bn. 1981–96 | Gen X Bn. 1965–80 | Boomers Bn. 1946–64 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen Z (1997–2012) is too young to measure. | +18% | +16% | +27% |
Census Bureau, Current Population Survey; Federal Reserve Board working paper (one study, not peer-reviewed).
BUYING A FIRST HOME
| Latest | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age of first-time buyer, realtor association survey — same survey all three years [4] | 40 (2025) | 32 | 29 |
| Same, from records of closed mortgages [5] | 32–33 (2025) | — | — |
| Households headed by someone under 35 who own their home [6] | 37.0% (2025) | 43.0% | 39.9% |
| 30-year mortgage rate, Freddie Mac weekly survey [7] | 7.28% (Oct. 2026) | 6.30% | 11.31% |
| Median down payment, first-time buyers, share of price [30] [31] | 10% (2025) | about 3% | about 10% (1989) |
| Median down payment, repeat buyers [30] [31] | 23% (2025) | about 16% | about 23% (1989) |
| Median existing-home sale price, dollars of the day [8] | $429,100 (Aug. 2026) | $219,000 | $75,500 |
| Home price [8] ÷ median household income [2], all households [9] | about 5 (2025) | 4.7 | 3.2 |
| Total monthly cost of the median-priced home — mortgage, taxes, insurance — dollars of the day [10] | $3,168 (2025) | $1,698 | $996 (1990) |
![[4]](https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/2025-11/2025-profile-of-home-buyers-and-sellers-historic-numbers-fast-facts-sheet-infographic-11-04-2025-2526w-3174h.png){kind=link}
Mortgage-rate readings are the weeks of Oct. 1, 2026, Dec. 15, 2005 and Dec. 13, 1985. Under-35 ownership was 35.2% in April–June 2026. The monthly-cost series begins in 1990 and assumes 3.5% down. Down payments for 2005 and 1989 are read from NAR's chart; loan records put the mid-2000s at 3% and 20%.
RENTING
| Latest | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median asking rent for vacant units, dollars of the day [11] | $1,490 (2025) | $605 | $343 (1988) |
| A year's asking rent [11] ÷ median household income [2], same year | 20.4% (2025) | 15.7% | 15.1% (1988) |
| Renter households paying over 30% of income for housing (considered cost-burdened) [12] | 49% (2024) | 40.6% (2001) | 35% (1980) |
| Average yearly rent increase, Consumer Price Index [13] | 3.5% a year (2005–26) | 3.3% a year (1985–2005) | — |
The Census asking-rent series begins in 1988. The cost-burden series has 2024, 2019, 2001 and 1980.
LIVING WITH PARENTS
| 2025 | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ages 18–34 living in a parent's home (college students in dorms counted as home) [14] | 33.0% | 26.9% | 28.1% |
Computed from Census counts: 25.2 of 76.4 million (2025); 18.1 of 67.3 million (2005); 19.3 of 68.7 million (1985).
COLLEGE
| Public four-year, in-state, 2025 dollars [15] | 2025–26 | 2005–06 | 1985–86 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published annual tuition and fees | $11,950 | $9,050 | $3,950 |
| Annual tuition and fees plus housing and food | $25,850 | $19,980 | $11,550 |
| Latest | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay premium for a bachelor's degree or higher over high school only — median weekly pay of full-time workers 25 and over (a yearly snapshot, not lifetime earnings) [33] | +80% (2025) | +74% | +52% |
| Student loans | Latest |
|---|---|
| Share of bachelor's degree recipients who graduated with debt [34] | 47% (2023–24) |
| Average debt at graduation, among those who borrowed [34] | $29,560 (2023–24) |
| Interest rate on a new federal undergraduate loan, fixed for the life of the loan [35] | 6.52% (2026–27) |
Enrollment-weighted averages of published prices, before grants. The pay premium is computed from BLS medians: $1,740 vs. $966 (2025), $1,013 vs. $583 (2005), $506 vs. $333 (1985).
JOBS
| Latest | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of 18–24-year-olds enrolled in college [16] | 39.0% (2022) | 38.9% | 27.8% |
| Unemployment rate, all workers, September [17] [18] | 4.2% (Sept. 2026) | 5.0% | 7.1% |
| Unemployment, recent college graduates ages 22–27 [19] | 5.7% (June 2026) | 4.4% | 3.4% (1990) |
| Unemployment, all workers ages 22–27, any education [19] | 7.2% (June 2026) | 8.5% | 7.6% (1990) |
| Recent graduates working in jobs that do not typically require a degree [19] | 42.0% (2026) | 44.1% | 42.9% (1990) |
The graduate series begins in 1990 and reports 12-month averages; readings are June 2026, January 2005 and January 1990.
CHILD CARE
| 2025 | |
|---|---|
| National average annual price of child care for one child, all ages and settings [20] | $13,184 |
Child Care Aware of America, an advocacy organization; average of three methods across 47 states. No comparable series exists for 1985 or 2005.
HEALTH CARE
| Latest | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worker's yearly share of an employer family plan [21] [22] | $6,850 (2025) | $2,713 | — (series begins 1999) |
| Worker's yearly share, single coverage [21] [22] | $1,440 (2025) | $610 | — |
| Buying your own coverage: benchmark marketplace premium, age 40, before subsidies [23] | $7,500 a year (2026) | — | — (begins 2014) |
| Health care as a share of all household spending [24] [25] | 7.9% (2024) | 5.7% | 4.7% |
Employer plans: the employer paid $20,143 of the family premium in 2025 and $8,167 in 2005.
FOOD AND GASOLINE
| 2024 | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food as a share of all household spending [24] [25] | 12.9% | 12.8% | 14.8% |
| Food as a share of income before taxes [24] [25] | 9.8% | 10.1% | 13.8% |
| Latest | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular gasoline, price per gallon, dollars of the day [32] | $4.20 (Aug. 2026) | $2.51 (Aug. 2005) | $1.23 (Aug. 1985) |
In 2024 the average household spent $6,224 on groceries and $3,945 eating out. Gasoline readings are August of each year, from one monthly series that begins in 1976; the price hit $2.93 in Sept. 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and was $3.07 in Feb. 2026.
MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN
| Latest | 2005 | 1985 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age at first marriage, men / women [26] | 30.2 / 28.6 (2024) | 27.1 / 25.3 | 25.5 / 23.3 |
| Mother's average age at first birth [27] [28] [29] | 27.6 (2024) | 25.2 | 23.7 |
When you hear a claim, ask
- Same age? A 60-year-old's wealth against a 28-year-old's measures age, not generations.
- Same measurement? A mail survey and a mortgage record put the first-time buyer at 40 and 33 in the same year.
- Sticker or net? Dollars of the day or real dollars? Share or dollars?
- Which age band — under 35, 25–34, 22–27? They are not interchangeable.
- Is it a measurable fact or an assumption, opinion or attribution? Births, jobs and living arrangements are counted; motives are not.
What do the facts say to Gen Zers?
- Income at the same age is higher than your parents' and grandparents' was, after inflation.
- Housing, college, and health care are the main costs that take a larger share of income than in the past.
- The main cost is housing. The median home price is now about five times median household income, up from about three. A year's asking rent equals about a fifth of median household income, up from about a sixth. Ownership under 35 is down from 43% to 37%.
- The mortgage rate is below your grandparents' and about a point above your parents'. The price is the bigger difference.
- One in three young adults lives at home or in dorms, up from one in four — the 1980s were higher than the 2000s.
- College sticker price tripled in real terms; the pay premium for a degree rose from about 50% to 80%; graduate underemployment has not changed in 36 years.
- Food takes about the same share of spending as in 2005; health care takes more.
- Marriage comes about five years later than in 1985; first births about four.
Stay Current
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies — jchs.harvard.edu. Publishes The State of the Nation's Housing every June and America's Rental Housing every other spring, with interactive tables updated in between. Housing is the cost that changed most for young adults, and this is the one resource that republishes the numbers on a schedule.
Sources and Links · Verified October 4, 2026
1. Census Bureau — "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Single Year of Age and Sex for the United States: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025." https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-national-detail.html
2. Census Bureau, Historical Income Tables: Households — "Table H-10. Median and Mean Household Income of Households by Age of Householder." https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-households.html
3. Corinth and Larrimore, "Has Intergenerational Progress Stalled?" Federal Reserve Board FEDS 2024-007, Feb. 2024. Working paper. https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2024.007
4. National Association of Realtors, 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, Nov. 4, 2025 — Historic Numbers fast-facts sheet and Exhibit 1-1 (mail survey, 6,103 responses). https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/2025-11/2025-profile-of-home-buyers-and-sellers-historic-numbers-fast-facts-sheet-infographic-11-04-2025-2526w-3174h.png
5. Mortgage Bankers Association, "Chart of the Week: Median First-Time Homebuyer Age," July 21, 2026 (loan records). https://newslink.mba.org/mba-newslinks/2026/july/mba-newslink-tuesday-july-21-2026/chart-of-the-week-median-first-time-homebuyer-age/
6. Census Bureau, Housing Vacancies and Homeownership — "Table 12. Household Estimates for the United States, by Age of Householder: 1982 to Present"; and Q2 2026 release. https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtabs.html
7. Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey, weekly. https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms
8. National Association of Realtors, median sales price of existing homes, via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOSMEDUSM052N
9. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, The State of the Nation's Housing 2026. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2026
10. Harvard JCHS, total monthly costs on the median-priced home, quarterly 1990–2025 (appendix data). https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2026
11. Census Bureau, Housing Vacancies and Homeownership — "Table 11A/B. Quarterly Median Asking Rent and Sales Price of the U.S. and Regions: 1988 to Present." https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtabs.html
12. Harvard JCHS, America's Rental Housing 2026, cost-burden interactive; 1980 from the decennial Census. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/americas-rental-housing-2026
13. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI rent of primary residence, via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SEHA
14. Census Bureau, Living Arrangements of Adults — "Table AD-1. Young Adults, 18-34 Years Old, Living At Home: 1960 to Present." https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/adults.html
15. College Board, Trends in College Pricing 2025 — Table CP-2 in "Trends in College Pricing 2025: Data in Excel." https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/college-pricing
16. NCES, Digest of Education Statistics — "Table 302.60. Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college, by level of institution and sex and race/ethnicity of student: 1970 through 2022." https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d23/tables/dt23_302.60.asp
17. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rate, monthly, via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE
18. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Employment Situation, September 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
19. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates. https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market
20. Child Care Aware of America, Child Care in America: 2025 Price & Supply. https://info.childcareaware.org/price-and-supply-2025
21. KFF, 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/2025-employer-health-benefits-survey/#5ef8068d-dcaa-41ed-819f-249a861b9da2
22. KFF, 2013 Employer Health Benefits Survey, Section 6, Exhibits 6.3 and 6.4 (2005 figures). https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/8465-employer-health-benefits-2013_section_61.pdf
23. KFF, average marketplace premiums by metal tier, 2026. https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/state-indicator/average-marketplace-premiums-by-metal-tier/
24. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys, Multiyear Tables, 1984–1991 and 2000–2005. https://www.bls.gov/cex/csxmulti.htm
25. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditures — 2024, Dec. 19, 2025. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm
26. Census Bureau, Historical Marital Status Tables — "Table MS-2. Estimated Median Age at First Marriage, by Sex: 1890 to Present." https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/marital.html
27. National Center for Health Statistics, Mean Age of Mother, 1970–2000, NVSR 51-1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr51/nvsr51_01.pdf
28. NCHS, Births: Final Data for 2005, NVSR 56-6, Table 15. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_06.pdf
29. NCHS, Births: Final Data for 2024, NVSR 75-2, June 9, 2026, Table A. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr75/nvsr75-02.pdf
30. National Association of Realtors, "Typical Down Payment Among Home Buyers 1989–2024," Economists' Outlook, 2025; 2025 values from the Profile fast-facts sheet. https://www.nar.realtor/news/economists-outlook/tackling-home-financing-and-down-payment-misconceptions
31. Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mortgage Market Note 13-01, Oct. 28, 2013 (loan-to-value of first-time and repeat buyers, from loan records). https://www.fhfa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/20131028_MMNote_13-01.pdf
32. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data, unleaded regular gasoline, U.S. city average, monthly 1976–2026 (series APU000074714), via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/data/APU000074714
33. Bureau of Labor Statistics, median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers 25 and over by educational attainment, annual 1979–2025 (series LEU0252917300 high school, LEU0252918500 bachelor's and higher), via FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/data/LEU0252918500A
34. College Board, news release on Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2025 (2023–24 graduates). https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/trends-college-pricing-and-student-aid-report-published-tuition-prices-public-institutions-and
35. Federal Student Aid, "Interest Rates for Federal Direct Loans First Disbursed Between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027," June 4, 2026. https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2026-06-04/interest-rates-federal-direct-loans-first-disbursed-between-july-1-2026-and-june-30-2027
Our Research Process
Every Fact Brief follows the same discipline — so you can trust what's on these pages, and check it yourself.
1 Identify issues voters care about.
2 Do independent, nonpartisan research using primary documents and verifiable, most up-to-date data.
3 Human-defined and directed throughout: we set the questions and the scope, redirect the research as fact patterns emerge, and verify every source. Three or more AI tools assist with searching, organizing and drafting. Claude.ai formats the final brief.
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5 Produce a concise Fact Brief.
6 Verify that each key factual claim is backed by a directly relevant, credible source.
7 Present the facts on contested points; note where credible sources disagree.
8 Use sources across the political spectrum, chosen for reliability — not for the conclusions they reach.
9 Update each Fact Brief when appropriate.
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Prepared for educational purposes from publicly available sources believed reliable at the time of publication. Readers are encouraged to consult the original sources. A ClaimYourVoterPower.org Fact Brief. Free to print, copy, host, and distribute unaltered, with attribution (CC BY-ND 4.0). Quotation with citation welcome. All links verified October 4, 2026. Published October 2026.