In the last decade, the percentage of millennial homeowners and renters has steadily declined.
This may be due to the fact that as a whole, millennials have less money than their parents did at the same age. According to the Federal Reserve, millennials have lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth compared to baby boomers.
A study by the Pew Research Center found that “millennial households are earning more than previous generations did at their age nearly any time in the past 50 years.” So what does this mean? Overall, as individuals, millennials are making less money, but income for married couples (household incomes) is up.
When it comes to spending, millennials are slower to own homes than previous generations. Growing up through the evictions and foreclosure notices of the 2008 financial crisis, millennials spend more money than their predecessors on high rent prices and paying off student loans.
Research from a Charles Schwab report found that instead of mortgages, millennials are more likely to spend their paychecks on transportation like Ubers and Lyfts, coffee, gadgets, clothes, and live entertainment and sports.
But millennials are less likely to have money in the bank, as well. A 2015 GoBankingRates survey found that a majority of millennials have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts, and many have nothing at all.