34.1% of Michigan Gen Z Adults Live on Their Own

Gen Z is hitting adulthood at a difficult time. Defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, most Gen Zers today are firmly in early adulthood or in their teenage years. Finding footing at this stage of life is challenging enough on its own. But Gen Z has had to navigate this formative time with the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic’s social and economic fallout, and, more recently, rising prices and the threat of a recession.
These factors could create lasting difficulties for members of Gen Z, which in turn could compound a trend in recent decades of young people delaying major life milestones. Over time, young adults have increasingly prioritized educational attainment, career advancement, and financial security over other significant markers of adulthood like marriage, parenthood, and homeownership. Gen Z’s current social and economic realities could accelerate these trends.
Marriage has been one of the most prominent milestones to be delayed further into adulthood. Over the last few decades, the typical age at which people marry has increased substantially. For men, the estimated median age at first marriage in 1960 was 22.8, while women’s median age at first marriage was 20.3. Today, those figures are 30.4 and 28.6, respectively.
Recently, economic trends have also made it more difficult for Gen Z adults to live independently. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, older members of Gen Z were entering early adulthood, a time when many people begin to move away from home or settle after finishing school. But lockdowns and other disruptions from COVID made it difficult to move, and beginning in late 2020, home prices and rents saw dramatic spikes across the U.S. that have made housing less affordable. Today, more Gen Zers are living at home than any generation in decades.
While housing has become more expensive, members of Gen Z also struggle with affordability because they have not yet reached their full earning potential. Gen Zers are either early in their careers or still in school, so their earnings lag behind members of other generations. The median annual wage for a full-time, adult Gen Z worker is just $24,000, less than half of what more experienced workers in Generation X or the Baby Boomer generation earn.
The analysis found that 34.1% of Gen Z adults in Michigan live on their own, compared to 30.6% nationally. Here is a summary of the data for Michigan:
Percentage of adult Gen Zers living on their own: 34.1%
Total adult Gen Zers living on their own: 279,591
Total adult Gen Z population: 820,819
Median annual wage of full-time adult Gen Zers living on their own: $25,000
Median annual wage of all full-time adult Gen Zers: $24,000
For reference, here are the statistics for the entire United States:
Percentage of adult Gen Zers living on their own: 30.6%
Total adult Gen Zers living on their own: 8,002,126
Total adult Gen Z population: 26,124,310
Median annual wage of full-time adult Gen Zers living on their own: $25,500
Median annual wage of all full-time adult Gen Zers: $24,000
For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Porch’s website: https://porch.com/advice/where-gen-z-is-living-on-their-own