Are California’s millennials paid enough?

California’s young adults earn significantly more than their peers nationwide – but those millennial incomes are not substantially above the Golden State’s norms.

My trusty spreadsheet reviewed SmartAsset’s scorecard of 2024 incomes for households headed by millennials in 357 large U.S. cities – including 77 in California. The earnings of this age 25-to-44 cohort were compared with overall incomes for each city to calculate the premium pay of millennials – or, in rare cases, a problematic earnings deficit.

Start with the median household income for California’s city-dwelling millennials at $109,600. That’s 33% above the $82,600 median in the cities outside of California.

Next, consider the overall median income of $101,200 in California compared with $76,100 elsewhere – also a 33% gap