Younger Generations Are Spending More of Their Monthly Wages on Housing

In the current housing market, home costs are a burden to most Americans, but recent data show members of Generation Z and Millennials are even worse off. While the general rule of thumb is to not spend more than 30% of earnings on housing, a recent survey from financial services company CardRates.com indicates a majority of both generations is spending more than that on monthly housing costs. In fact, more than 76% of respondents say they spend more than 31% of their earnings on housing, while more than 52% of respondents say they spend over half of their salary on housing.

Among the Gen Zers we surveyed, 70.37% said they spend over 31% of their income on housing expenses, while far more millennials (81.72%) said the same thing.

However, if we break this down by gender, it turns out that significantly more women (78.95%)  than men (71.47%) across both age groups spend more than 31% of their monthly income on housing expenses.

Read more