The salary each generation believes they need to succeed

Different generations have different ideas and beliefs about money. This makes sense because each generation is raised differently and experiences different events.

It turns out that each generation has very different ideas about what their ideal salary would be. A new study looked at what those salaries would look like, for everyone from Gen Z to baby boomers.

Gen Z believes they need the highest salary to succeed across four generations.

Empower conducted a study called “Secret to Success,” in which they surveyed 2,203 American adults. The study, they say, was conducted in such a way as to make it “representative” of all adult Americans.

Empower found that “the average salary considered successful is $270,000 per year and the overall net worth is $5.3 million.”

Interestingly, Gen Z felt they needed even more than that.

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When asked about the “annual salary” needed to be “financially successful,” Gen Z gave an average answer of $587,797. This was significantly more than any other generation surveyed.

Millennials felt they needed to make around $180,865 a year to be successful, while Gen X wanted $212,321.

Baby boomers came in with the lowest salary deemed necessary for financial success, $99,874.

Unsurprisingly, this differs from the reality of average salaries for these generations.

While these may be the idealistic salaries that every generation wants to earn, they are of course higher than what is actually received.

According to Statista data, Gen Z actually brings in around $57,039 per year. Meanwhile, millennials earn $97,866.

Generation X had the highest salary at $113,886. Baby boomers earned about $74,195 per year.

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This means that Gen Z’s desired salary for financial success is 10 times higher than what they actually earn on average.

The numbers for Millennials and Generation X were also quite far apart, while Baby Boomers had the smallest difference between what they wanted to earn and what they actually earned.

It’s no surprise that every generation feels like they need more than they actually earn. Everyone faces their own set of monetary challenges, making it seem like you need more money than you actually have.

Statistics collected by Investopedia prove that every generation has faced periods of high inflation. With major events like recessions, wars, and pandemics marking each generation’s years, it makes sense that they all felt the need for a little something extra.

The state of the current economy is likely also responsible for these high numbers.

Many baby boomers are already retired or approaching that age. However, when they were younger, they had enough money to get by. But when asked how much salary they would need to be financially successful, they said it was higher than what they actually earned.

Additionally, Generation Z, the youngest generation surveyed, felt they needed the money the most. Many would attribute this to young people being greedy or entitled. But it could just as easily be due to the current economic situation.

With inflation finally falling after reaching record levels during the recent pandemic and the stock market doing relatively well, people lack confidence in the economy.

Kyla Scanlon, an economics expert, told PBS News Hour that she refers to this phenomenon as “vibrecession.”

“Vibecession is this idea of a mismatch between consumer sentiment and economic data and why people feel bad about the economy, despite economic indicators telling them the economy is doing well ” she said.

Because Gen Z grew up in this “vibration” economy, where everything seems to be going wrong, and had to watch their parents struggle when the economy was really bad, they feel they need to ‘a bigger cushion for success.

In other words, they are realistic given what they know. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a BA in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle and human interest topics.