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A job seeker meets with a recruiter at a job fair in Carson, California, on June 30, 2026. (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nA job seeker meets with a recruiter at a job fair in Carson, California, on June 30, 2026. (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Amid reports of a tough job market<\/a> and rising costs of living<\/a>, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that majorities of Americans say young adults have it harder today financially than their parents\u2019 generation did.<\/p>\n Growing shares of Americans say things are harder for young adults today than they were for their parents\u2019 generation<\/p>\n % of U.S. adults saying each of the following is ___ for young adults today than it was for their parents\u2019 generation<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tNote: Other response options included \u201cAbout the same for young adults today as it was for their parents\u2019 generation.\u201d The shares who said this (7%-20%) or who didn\u2019t offer an answer are not shown. Refer to topline<\/a> for full question wording.<\/p>\n Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted May 4-17, 2026.<\/p>\n PEW RESEARCH CENTER<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on X<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Facebook<\/p>\n Growing shares of Americans say things are harder for young adults today than they were for their parents\u2019 generation<\/p>\n % of U.S. adults saying each of the following is ___ for young adults today than it was for their parents\u2019 generation<\/p>\n Buying a homeHarderEasier202687620217016Paying for collegeHarderEasier202682720217114Saving for the futureHarderEasier202682620217211Finding a jobHarderEasier2026641520213940<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tNote: Other response options included \u201cAbout the same for young adults today as it was for their parents\u2019 generation.\u201d The shares who said this (7%-20%) or who didn\u2019t offer an answer are not shown. Refer to topline<\/a> for full question wording.<\/p>\n Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted May 4-17, 2026.<\/p>\n PEW RESEARCH CENTER<\/p>\n ChartData<\/p>\n Download ImageShare<\/p>\n The shares of U.S. adults who say it\u2019s harder for young adults now to achieve several financial milestones have gone up since 2021. The biggest jump is in the share saying it\u2019s harder to find a job.<\/p>\n Most adults (64%) say it\u2019s harder for young people to find a job today, up from 39% who said the same in 2021. Just 15% say it\u2019s easier, down from 40% five years ago. Another 20% say it\u2019s about the same for young people today as it was for their parents.<\/p>\n 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.<\/a> have risen faster than young adults\u2019 incomes, and fewer metropolitan areas around the country are classified as affordable for young adults.<\/p>\n In addition, Americans are about 10 percentage points more likely today than in 2021 to say it\u2019s harder for young adults to pay for college and save for the future than it was for their parents.<\/p>\n We also asked about covering basic expenses, a financial milestone we didn\u2019t 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\u2019s easier and 13% say it\u2019s about the same.<\/p>\n A 2024 Center analysis<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n About this research<\/p>\n This Pew Research Center analysis looks at whether Americans think it\u2019s easier or harder for young adults to achieve certain financial milestones today than it was for their parents\u2019 generation.<\/p>\n Why did we do this?<\/p>\n Pew Research Center does research to help the public, the media and decision-makers understand important topics. This research builds on our work on the experiences and views of young adults<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n How did we do this?<\/p>\n We surveyed 10,091 U.S. adults from May 4 to 17, 2026. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel<\/a>. The survey represents the views of all U.S. adults.<\/p>\n Here are the survey questions used for this analysis<\/a>, the detailed responses<\/a> and the survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n Differences by age<\/p>\n Majorities across age groups say it\u2019s harder for young adults today to find a job than it was for their parents<\/p>\n % of U.S. adults saying finding a job is ___ for young adults today than it was for their parents\u2019 generation<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t Note: Shares of respondents who didn\u2019t offer an answer are not shown.<\/p>\n Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted May 4-17, 2026.<\/p>\n PEW RESEARCH CENTER<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on X<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Facebook<\/p>\n Majorities across age groups say it\u2019s harder for young adults today to find a job than it was for their parents<\/p>\n % of U.S. adults saying finding a job is ___ for young adults today than it was for their parents\u2019 generation<\/p>\n HarderEasierAbout the sameGroupingAll adults641520AllAges 18-29751212Age30-49661519Age50+581625Age<\/p>\n Note: Shares of respondents who didn\u2019t offer an answer are not shown.<\/p>\n Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted May 4-17, 2026.<\/p>\n PEW RESEARCH CENTER<\/p>\n ChartData<\/p>\n Download ImageShare<\/p>\n Young adults themselves are more likely than older adults to say most financial milestones are more challenging today than in the past.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s young adults than it was for their parents\u2019 generation. About two-thirds of those ages 30 to 49 (66%) and a smaller share of those 50 and older (58%) say the same.<\/p>\n Young adults are also more likely than other age groups to say that it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n How many young adults have reached these milestones?<\/p>\n In 2023, we looked at the shares of Americans who actually achieved certain financial benchmarks<\/a> by age 21. The shares of 21-year-olds who were employed full-time, were financially independent or lived outside their parents\u2019 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.<\/p>\n By age 25, the differences among these measures were smaller but still statistically significant.<\/p>\n Note: Here are the survey questions used for this analysis<\/a>, the detailed responses<\/a> and the survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A job seeker meets with a recruiter at a job fair in Carson, California, on June 30, 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-768812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chart\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/majorities_across_age_groups_say_its_harder_for_young_adults_today_to_find_a_job_than_it_was_for_the.png\")
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