This Chart Proves Millennials Actually Do Have It Worse So Shut Your Old Mouths

Income has remained the same while the prices of everything else has gone up

For all of their lavish, avocado toast-eating ways (please hear my sarcasm), millennials actually don’t have it so great. Not only are they blamed by the Olds for just about everything not good in this world, they’re also much worse off financially than people their age were 40 years ago. All of this adds up to millennials being nowhere near where their parents were at the same age, and this handy chart puts the depressing news in sharp focus.

The study comes from Axios and the bottom line is beyond ugh — median income has stayed steady from 1977 until 2016, the set of years the study encompassed — while the costs of everything else went up.

The numbers are adjusted for inflation, but these charts tell the whole story. While the median income has remained stagnant, the costs of attending college and owning a home have gone up. Millennials are stuck with huge amounts of debt as soaring college costs mean they’re paying more for education while their salaries stay flat.

According to census data, about 31 percent of 18-34-year-olds as of 2016 are living in their parents’ home making it the most common living arrangement for young adults. It seems college debt, astronomical home costs, and flat wages are keeping young adults from spreading their wings. Imagine that.

Like so many people my age, I didn’t need this study to tell me how much worse off I am than my parents were at my age. As the data bears out, costs have gone up while wages have remained stagnant. Literally just today my parents texted me a photo of the land they plan to build their “retirement” home on and it will be nicer than any home I ever own. I am typing this from the kitchen of my tiny “starter” home that I’ve lived in for 12 fricking years despite being gainfully employed for nearly all of those years.

It’s cool. I’m not bitter at all. I’m breezy

Fellow folks my age took to Twitter to share their feelings on the recent findings.

But people are also noticing that millennials are saying “no thanks” to marriage.

Bottom line? As Axios also points out, millennials now make up a quarter of the county’s population — that means we make up a quarter of the vote. As we drown in college debt and fail to afford homes, let’s remember those sad facts and march our disgruntled, avocado toast-nourished bodies to the polls this fall.