Gen Z Has the Most Debt of Any Generation — Ways It Could Hurt Their Financial Goals

John Csiszar

Wed, Apr 2, 2025, 9:00 AM 4 min read

Gen Z is just entering adulthood, and according to a Talker Research poll conducted for Newsweek, they are the generation struggling with the most debt.

Learn More: 25 Creative Ways To Save Money

Find Out: 6 Hybrid Vehicles To Stay Away From in Retirement

More than half of the generation, which includes those born between 1997 and 2012, said that debt is on their minds most or all of the time, putting quite a burden on these young adults.

While it’s unfortunate that so many Gen-Zers find themselves in this predicament, they are right to worry. Too much debt can be crippling to a long-term financial plan and unless they can figure out a way to manage that debt, they could be facing a lifelong struggle that follows them right into retirement.

Fortunately, there are steps that anyone can take to get out of debt and back on a financially sound path.

Here’s a look at the current state that Gen Z is in, why it’s problematic, and what they can do to get back on track.

Read Next: Warren Buffett: 10 Things Poor People Waste Money On

According to the study, Gen Z carries by far the highest amount of personal debt, averaging a whopping $94,101. The only other generation that is even close is the Silent Generation, born between 1925 and 1945, with an average personal debt of $75,001. Millennials and Gen-Xers, who are most often compared with Gen Z, have far lower average debt levels of $59,181 and $53,255, respectively.

Even worse, according to the New York Fed, Gen Z has the highest percentage of debt more than 90 days late. And this percentage has only risen over the past three years.

In their defense, Gen Z has, in many ways, encountered the perfect storm. In many cases, it takes a college degree to get a high-paying job, but the cost of tuition has run far ahead of both wage growth and inflation. This means that many Gen-Zers have been saddled with huge student loan debt at a time when they can’t earn enough to realistically pay it off.

Another factor is that the housing market is at near-record levels of unaffordability. As home prices continue to rise and mortgage rates remain relatively high compared with recent years, many Gen-Zers are paying hundreds of dollars more per month on a mortgage than they may have expected — or can realistically afford.

The housing market has long been one of the most reliable paths to long-term wealth. But Gen-Zers with a high amount of debt have low credit scores. This makes homes even more unaffordable, blocking a key way for Gen-Zers to generate long-term wealth.