In the paper, I analyze various aspects of their life-course trajectories. Building on earlier work published when I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center, I find that millennials, on average, delayed their transition into adulthood as compared to older generations, consistent with popular portrayals, but they have begun to catch up in recent years, with rising incomes and as they move from multifamily apartments to single-family homes.įor the analysis, I used the 1962–2019 IPUMS Current Population Survey (IPUMS-CPS) microdata and selected five birth-year cohorts to represent their respective generations: 1950 (early baby boomers born 1946–1955), 1960 (late baby boomers, 1956–1965), 1973 (Generation X, 1966–1980), 1985 (early millennials, 1981–1990), and 1995 (late millennials, 1991–2000).

I examine these issues in “ Are Millennials Leaving Town? Reconciling Peak Millennials and Youthification Hypotheses ,” a paper published earlier this year in the International Journal of Urban Sciences which examines how millennials are faring compared to previous generations at the same ages. Others assume that the struggles of millennials during financial crisis would persist over time. Some have compared millennials to baby boomers, although they are in different stages of life.

Often, myths have been promoted without careful consideration of the difference between age and generation. With all the buzz surrounding millennials and their choices, it is tough to separate myth from reality.

Gen z age range