Is Gen Z “utterly screwed”?: The big myth about zoomers’ economic condition. (Eric Levitz, Nov 18, 2025, vox)
By most metrics, zoomers are doing better materially than past generations were at the same age.
Take annual income. According to an analysis from the US Federal Reserve, the median 25-year-old zoomer made over $40,000 a year in 2022, after inflation, taxes, and transfers are taken into account. That is 50 percent more than the typical boomer earned at the same age.
Wealth data tells a similar story. As of 2023, Americans born between 1990 and 1999 — in other words, young millennials and older zoomers — had a median net worth that was 39 percent higher (in inflation-adjusted terms) than previous generations boasted at the same age.
Likewise, the median wealth of Americans under 35 in 2022 was the highest on record.