Researchers from Federal Reserve Board Detail Findings in Demography (Has Generational Progress Stalled? Income Growth Over Five Generations of Americans): Science – Demography

2026 MAY 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsRx Science Daily -- Researchers detail new data in Science - Demography. According to news reporting originating from Washington, District of Columbia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Whether each generation of Americans continues to economically surpass the previous one has recently been called into question. We construct a posttax, posttransfer income measure from 1963 to 2023 based on the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement that allows us to consistently compare the economic well-being of five generations of Americans at ages 36-40.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Federal Reserve Board, “We find that Millennials had a real median household income that was 20% higher than that of the previous generation, a slowdown from the growth rate of the Silent Generation (36%) and Baby Boomers (26%), but similar to that of Generation X (16%). The slowdown for younger generations largely resulted from stalled growth in work hours among women. Progress for Millennials younger than 30 has also remained robust, though largely due to greater reliance on their parents.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Additionally, lifetime income gains for younger generations far outweigh their higher educational costs.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Has Generational Progress Stalled? Income Growth Over Five Generations of Americans. Demography, 2026. Demography can be contacted at: Duke Univ Press, 905 W Main St, Ste 18-B, Durham, NC 27701, USA. (Springer - www.springer.com; Demography - http://www.springerlink.com/content/0070-3370/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jeff Larrimore, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-12555050. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Demography is: Duke Univ Press, 905 W Main St, Ste 18-B, Durham, NC 27701, USA.

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