How to survive a millennial midlife crisis
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 ā¢ 9.2K Ratings
šļø 6 May 2026
ā±ļø 17 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
As this generation enters midlife, their lives look really different from their parents' lives: Millennials areĀ more educatedĀ and have aĀ higher median net worth, but the generation is alsoĀ more unequalĀ than previous generations, hasĀ higher debtĀ and has lower rates ofĀ homeownershipĀ andĀ marriage. How does that all shape what millennial midlife crises are starting to look like?
Brittany finds out with Vox senior correspondentĀ Alex Abad-Santos, who recently wrote anĀ articleĀ about the millennial midlife crisis, andĀ Sara Srygley, research associate at the Population Reference Bureau.
This episode originally aired on June 20, 2025.
For more episodes about the forces shaping Millennialsā lives, check out:
You're not broken - the job market is.
Enough is enough. Is it time to leave America?
The ugly truth of America's expensive homes
Support Public Media. Join NPR Plus.
Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPRās Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Okay, so you're both millennials. As am I. What does a millennial midlife crisis look like to you? Like, have you had one or know people that have had one? |
| 0:09.1 | Does going back to school count? Because I feel like everyone that I know is midlife crisis involves some degree of a career shift or going back to school. |
| 0:17.4 | Yeah, I think that counts. Alex, you wrote a piece in box about the millennial |
| 0:21.2 | midlife crisis. What does it look like in your life? Preeny, do you even know how many |
| 0:25.4 | DJs and wannabe DJs and comedians are in my life right now? |
| 0:31.1 | The improv classes are full. Yeah, I will say, I haven't quite hit my midlife prices, but there's still time. |
| 0:39.0 | And like me, a lot of millennials are about to hit 40 or are already in their 40s. |
| 0:43.9 | So we might be seeing more of them. |
| 0:46.5 | It's funny. |
| 0:47.1 | Even as we enter midlife, I feel like millennials still haven't shaken some of the stink off of being considered entitled. |
| 0:54.7 | Like in the 2010s, as millennials were mostly in their 20s, the news media was flooded with |
| 0:58.8 | disparaging think pieces to that effect. |
| 1:01.2 | Millennials were the generation of participation trophies, the me, me, me generation, |
| 1:06.3 | the generation who couldn't buy a house because they were stupid enough to spend all their money |
| 1:10.1 | on avocado toast. |
| 1:11.8 | While some intergenerational rassing is to be expected, I mean, we see it on social media every day. |
| 1:17.3 | Millennials can be forgiven for being salty about it because we were raised by the people who gave us the participation trophies in the first place. |
| 1:24.5 | And many of us were launched into a deeply hostile economic environment as we |
| 1:28.7 | came of age. It's been about a decade or more since all of this happened. So I want to know |
| 1:34.8 | how are millennials faring now? Well, we're going to find out with Alex Abbott-Santos, senior |
| 1:40.8 | correspondent at Box, and Sarah Shrigley, research associate at the |
| 1:44.9 | Population Reference Bureau. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright Ā© Tapesearch 2026.