Only 27% of Gen Zers Earn Enough to Live Alone [LendingTree Study]

For many Americans, getting your own apartment is a major financial milestone, but for Gen Zers, that milestone is out of reach. We found that just 26.9% of Gen Z workers earn enough to live alone, and the share is much lower in many large metros.

My team at LendingTree analyzed the data to see how many Gen Zers can afford to live comfortably on their own. We used the classic affordability benchmark: spending no more than 30% of income on a one-bedroom apartment. Here’s a quick look at the report:

• Only about 1 in 4 Gen Z workers can afford to live alone comfortably. Nationwide, living solo without help from a partner, roommate, or family member requires about $52,040 a year, and just 26.9% of full-time Gen Z workers hit that mark.
  • A majority of Gen X (60.9%), millennials (56.9%), and baby boomers (55.6%) earn enough to live alone comfortably. 

• The share of Gen Zers who can afford to live comfortably alone is closer to 1 in 10 in many big metros. Only 9.6% of Gen Z workers in Oxnard, CA, 10% in Miami, and 10.7% in Orlando, FL earn enough to live comfortably on their own.

• Only 4.9% of full-time Gen Z workers make $100K+, nationwide, but that jumps in places like San Jose, CA (29.5%), San Francisco (20.8%), and Seattle (15.3%).

You can view the full study here: https://www.lendingtree.com/debt-consolidation/live-alone-comfortably-study/ 

LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, Matt Schulz, has this to add:

“Only about 1 in 4 full-time Gen Z workers earn enough to live alone comfortably, and that’s a warning sign. The threshold is about $52,000 a year nationally, but fewer than 27% reach it. In cities like Miami and Oxnard, it’s closer to 1 in 10, which is troubling. When housing costs outpace pay to that degree, young adults' financial margin for error disappears quickly.”