Reality might be done biting Generation X.
Gen Xers, aged 38 to 53, have recovered the wealth they lost during the Great Recession, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center.
In 2007, just before the onset of the global financial crisis, Generation X’s median household net worth was $63,400. The crisis and following recession took their toll, lowering Gen Xers’ average net worth to $39,200 in 2010. As of 2016, however, Generation X had an average net worth of $84,200.
Baby boomers, aged 54 to 72, haven’t been quite as lucky: Their average net worth went from $224,100 in 2007 to $165,900 in 2010, recovering to $184,200 by 2016. Millennials, age 22 to 37, saw their average net worth go from $5,500 in 2007 to $6,800 in 2010 to $12,300 in 2016.
According to Richard Fry, senior researcher for the Pew Research Center, wealth rises most rapidly at younger ages, peaking when people reach their early 70s.
“For many American households, the bulk of their net worth is in their home, and this was especially the case for households headed by Gen Xers (then ages 27 to 42) in 2007,” wrote Fry in his analysis. “About half of the assets they owned were in the value of their primary residence, whereas households headed by a member of the baby boom or Silent generation had a higher share of their money in financial assets such as checking or retirement accounts.”
As the financial crisis reverberated through the housing market and the financial markets, Gen Xers experienced larger declines in home equity than older generations. According to Pew’s analysis, the median home equity held by Gen Xers declined 43 percent from 2007 to 2010, from $66,000 to $37,600. Baby boomers, on the other hand, only experienced a 28 percent median decline in the total value of their home equity. In 2010, 15 percent of Gen X homeowners were underwater on their homes, owing more than they owned. By 2016, only 3 percent of Gen X homeowners were underwater.
As stock prices also declined, the median value of financial assets held by Gen Xers decreased by 20 percent between 2007 and 2010, though members of older generations experienced somewhat larger declines in financial assets. From 2010 to 2016, the median financial assets of Gen X households doubled from $11,300 to $21,600, but the median assets of older generations are now at levels similar to before the Great Recession.
Millennials, the oldest of whom were 26 in 2007, were affected by the Great Recession mostly in terms of employment and earnings. As they had “little wealth to lose,” millennials did not experience the same level of wealth destruction as older generations, the report said.
Since the oldest members of Generation X were 42 at the onset of the financial crisis, they were still within prime earning years during the Great Recession and the subsequent recovery. Gen Xers now enjoy the highest median adjusted household income of any generation, at $73,200 in 2016, which Fry argues should allow them to be better positioned to handle the next financial crisis.