[toshinoriyagi]

“Some Gen Zers protest, claiming that higher incomes are a mirage since they do not account for the exploding cost of college and housing. After all, global house prices are close to all-time highs, and graduates have more debt than before. In reality, though, Gen Zers are coping because they earn so much. In 2022 Americans under 25 spent 43% of their post-tax income on housing and education, including interest on debt from college—slightly below the average for under-25s from 1989 to 2019.”

The author is using a poor metric to compare. It is not the % of income spent on housing that matters, but the % spent per unit housing quality. If you compare a boomer and a gen Zer, both spending X% of their income on housing, what quality housing is that getting them in comparable areas?

My girlfriend's parents could each afford their rent on two shifts of waiting tables when they were young, and they lived in nice areas of San Diego. Trying that today will have you living in a bad area with roommates.