Consumer Spending by Generation
March 9,
2018 by Jane Chero in General 
As Baby Boomers are aging out of prime furniture buying years, Generation X households have picked up the reigns with robust consumer spending – despite a much smaller population size. Couple the Gen Xers with the sheer population size of the Millennials and the future for the furniture and home furnishings industry looks promising. This is the third factoid in a series of five factoids giving a snapshot of the five adult generations using data from the 2016 Consumer Expenditure Survey. We highlight Housing Tenure, Race, and Education of consumers by generation. *See Factoid 1 for generation birth years and ages
Housing Tenure
As would be expected, only 33 percent of Millennial households are homeowners, but that number is increasing daily. Generation X has not quite embraced homeownership like their parents, with 62 percent owning their own residence compared to 76 percent of Baby Boomers.
Race of Consumer
Ethnic diversity continues to grow the younger the generation. For heads of households, Hispanics or Latinos have become the second largest segment after Whites, Asian, and all other races – increasing from 9 percent of Baby Boomers to 18 percent of Generation X and Millennials in 2016.
Education of Consumer
The data continues to confirm that Millennials are the most educated generation. In 2016, 71 percent of Millennials were college educated versus 69 percent of Gen Xers and 63 percent of Baby Boomers.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey 2016