Millennials now have net worths that are higher than those of previous generations at similar ages, adjusting for inflation

In financial terms, millennials are having a good decade. 

The generation born between 1981 and 1996 has built wealth faster than either Generation X or baby boomers in the 2020s, according to several recent reports. Another batch of studies show that millennials have more wealth now than older generations held at the same age. 

“They’re doing better than we did,” said Christian Weller, a Gen Xer and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. 

A 2024 report from the Center for American Progress found that the average wealth of under-40 Americans rose by 49% between the end of 2019 and the end of 2023, to an inflation-adjusted average net worth of $259,000. That group includes millennials and the oldest of Generation Z. Millennials, by themselves, saw their wealth double in those years. 

By contrast, wealth declined by 7% between 2019 and 2023 for Americans ages 40 to 54, a group dominated by Generation X. Wealth rose by 4% for Americans ages 55 to 69, mostly boomers. 

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A 2025 report from Empower, the financial services company, found that millennial wealth rose 13% in 2024. Gen X and boomers saw much smaller gains. 

Millennials are wealthier than Gen X, boomers at the same age

Millennials are wealthier now than older Americans were at the same age. The median millennial had a net worth of $84,941 in 2022, according to an analysis from the personal finance site LendingTree. Adjusting for inflation, Generation X had a median net worth of $78,333 at the same age. Boomers had a median net worth of $58,101. 

Millennials and Gen-Z adults have amassed wealth across the board in the 2020s. Average housing wealth for under-40 households rose by $22,000 between the end of 2019 and the end of 2023, the Center for American Progress analysis found. Liquid assets, including bank deposits, grew by $9,000. Other financial assets, including stocks and mutual funds, rose by $31,000. 

“It’s every single category that has gone up,” Weller said. “That is home equity, retirement savings, equity in privately held businesses – all of that has grown faster” than for older generations, he said. “Homeownership has risen faster; wages have grown faster.” 

Millennial wealth is a Cinderella story. Millennial finances languished for years. As recently as five years ago, millennials trailed far behind older generations in net worth. As of mid-2019, millennial wealth totaled roughly $4 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. Gen X's wealth totaled $25 trillion, and baby boomers held $59 trillion. 

By the third quarter of 2024, however, millennial wealth had quadrupled to $16 trillion. Gen X and boomer wealth grew much more slowly.