RT Sasha Gusev: Some fun charts: 1. Each US generation is wealthier than the last.
A tweet by Sasha Gusev, retweeted by Paul Graham, shares charts showing that each generation in the US is wealthier than the previous one.
Background
- The tweet is by Paul Graham (YC co-founder, famed essayist on startups and generational trends), retweeting data analyst Sasha Gusev.
- The chart shows that in real (inflation-adjusted) terms, each successive US generation — from the Silent Generation through Millennials — has accumulated more wealth at the same age, contradicting a popular narrative that younger Americans are falling behind.
- 'Real net worth per capita' strips out inflation and population growth, so the comparisons are apples-to-apples across time.
- The tweet is concise; the full context comes from knowing that there is an ongoing, heated debate in US policy/media circles about whether Millennials and Gen Z are the first generations to be poorer than their parents. This chart argues they are not.