Raven Khreis is 19, works two jobs, and has already stopped expecting to move out anytime soon. Gas near $5 a gallon means carpooling with friends just to afford hanging out. Cloud Benn is 23, working three jobs in New Orleans, still living with his mother, and watching his own childhood slip further out of reach. Shaniya Taylor, 21, does the math constantly: her monthly paycheck from a nonprofit is less than what an apartment would cost in her Florida town.
These are not edge cases. They are the new normal for young adults trying to establish independence in an economy that refuses to cooperate. More than eight in 10 young adults between 18 and 34 now describe the economy as "bad" or "terrible," according to a survey of over 1,000 Americans by Generation Lab. Entry-level job markets have deteriorated since the pandemic ended, cuts to social safety programs continue, and the cost of basics like housing, food, and utilities keeps climbing.
"It's been rough for a long time," said Nia West-Bey, executive director of the National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy. "But I think we particularly have a confluence of long-term economic challenges on the income side and support side, now coupled with an increase in expenses on everything."
The generational gap is brutal. Benn's mother moved out at 23, rented her own place, and built a life. Benn is the same age now, working harder, and still cannot afford to leave. "We were fed that; we were told, hey, this is what adulthood is," Benn said. "Even if you plan it down to the penny, nine times out of 10, it's never enough, especially in this economy."
Tanajia Moye-Green, a 25-year-old PhD student in California, navigates a different kind of pressure. Academic fellowships provide barely enough to survive. As a first-generation, low-income student who tries to send money to family, every expense feels impossible. When she needed an ambulance to the emergency room recently, she refused it. "I just went with my friend; she drove us, because I knew I couldn't afford that," she said.
The stakes stretch beyond the immediate struggle. Starting a career during economic downturns leaves scars that last decades. "People who start their careers during difficult economic periods, in some cases never catch up to their peers who graduated a few years earlier, before things went bad," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative. "These scarring effects are really real, and have real staying power."
For young adults entering the workforce now, the context has fundamentally shifted from pre-pandemic conditions. Job income is less reliable, connections to work are harder to secure, and cost pressures have intensified across nearly every category. "What's unique about this moment is that there's some challenges that may not have been present for other cohorts of young people," said Kassandra Martinchek, senior research associate at the Urban Institute.
The frustration boils over when asked where to assign blame. In Generation Lab's survey, 41% of young adults pointed to Donald Trump, while 31% cited corporate greed and large companies as the primary culprits for economic conditions.
Long-term planning has become nearly impossible for this generation. West-Bey points to data from Circle after the 2024 election identifying economic conditions as the top issue for young people. "It is really difficult to do long-term planning for your future if you don't know where you're going to lay your head at night, if you don't know what you're going to eat the next day," she said.
Taylor, working toward a four-year degree while living with her mother, feels the weight of timing. Electricity bills from Florida Power & Light's recent rate hike consume chunks of her paycheck. The prospect of stepping into adulthood in this environment "feels scary." For millions like her, adulthood is no longer a milestone to reach. It is a privilege they are being priced out of.
Author James Rodriguez: "These aren't individual failures of ambition or work ethic, no matter what the bootstraps crowd wants to believe, and that's what makes this crunch so corrosive to an entire generation's future."
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