The age cohort continues to surprise economists and defy sweeping generalizations, from how many live in poverty to how many drive cars

There might be something to the woe-is-me narrative of the millennial generation. It turns out that one in five millennials lives in poverty, according to a recent report released by the US Census Bureau.

The generation that has been dismissed as entitled and whiny is struggling with higher levels of poverty than its counterparts did in 1980. Back then, about one in seven 18-to-34-year-olds lived in poverty.

One possible reason: higher unemployment.



Today, 65% of young adults are employed, down from 69% in 1980. Members of the prior generation were also more likely to find themselves serving in the army: about 9% of the 18-to-34-year-olds were veterans in the 1980; today that number is just 2%.

Drive on

Probably most surprising among the findings published in the interactive Young Adults: Then and Now is what hasn’t changed: eight in 10 millennials drive to work. The number is “largely” unchanged, found the bureau.



This news comes at a time when all other statistics seem to point to the fact that millennials have fallen out of love with cars and driving – something that has been troubling carmakers. Millennials are buying fewer cars: new car purchases for the age group dropped 30% between 2007 and 2012. Many of those who drive to work may be using older cars – or, perhaps, car sharing.

This isn’t what we meant by car sharing, but OK. Photograph: Alamy

There are some areas, however, where millennials rely on other means of transportation. In New York, for example, only 53% of millennials get to work by car. The rest are probably stuck on the L train.



More school, fewer wedding bells

The survey also confirmed a few things we already knew about millennials – like the fact that more of them are going to college. Compared to just 16% of their 1980s counterparts, 22% of young adults today have a college degree.



Their expensive degrees – since 1978 the price of college has rocketed up 1,120% – unfortunately do not guarantee employment, not even in their chosen fields. The underemployment rate for 2013 college graduates was 18.3%, up from 9.9% in 2007.



As millennials struggle with student loans and finding jobs within their preferred professions, they are putting off some of the other milestones of adulthood, such as marriage: only three in 10 millennials have ever been married. In the 1980s, people ages 18 to 34 were getting married at twice that rate.

Earlier this year, a number of younger Guardian US readers said that financial instability brought on by crippling debt, little savings and no job security was the reason they were in no rush to tie the knot.

The other reason? They haven’t met the right person. Maybe things will turn around on that front in 2015.

