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Is the Investment Paying Off?

For millennials, it’s clear the trend is more education, and earlier in life. But, of course, education takes time and mo-
ney. Millennials have delayed key lifestyle decisions, such as marriage and having children, in favor of investing in the
pursuit of education, pushing marriage and family formation to their early-to-mid-30s compared with previous genera-
tions, who primarily made these lifestyle choices in their twenties. In fact, according to Census data, in the 1970s,

eight in 10 people married by the time they turned 30. Today, the same level of marriage does not occur
until the age of 45.

Marriage and family formation are two of the most powerful motivations for homeownership, so these delayed lifestyle
choices tend to also delay the desire for homeownership. However, the earning power benefits of higher educational
attainment are real.
With all this time spent furthering their educations, and potentially accruing some student debt in the process, are mil-
lennials reaping the benefits of their investment? According to our analysis, the investment in pursuing higher educa-
tion continues to deliver significant earning power benefits.
Millennials (ages 25 to 37) with a bachelor’s degree have a median household income of $86,600. That’s more than
$35,000 higher than millennials with just a high school degree, whose median household income is $50,600. The disc-
repancy is even greater for millennials with no high school degree, which have a median household income of
$28,200. The earning power benefit improves along with greater educational achievement. Millennials with at least a
graduate degree have a median household income of $100,600, nearly double that of millennials with just a high
school degree.

The level of educational attainment seems to matter when it comes to income growth, as well. When comparing a 36-
year-old millennial to his/her younger self one decade ago, we find that those with a graduate degree or higher expe-
rienced and 74 percent increase in household income, compared with those without a higher degree, who only expe-
rienced a 19 percent gain in the decade between 26 and 36 years of age. So, the sacrifice of those early mornings,
all-nighters and hours in the library pays off big time.