Mapping the Wasted Generation

Social Explorer has collaborated with the Census Bureau to provide an interesting examination of the lives of young adults in the United States today. Young Adults Then and Now uses census data to compare the education and incomes of today's 18-34 year old adults with those of previous generations.

At the heart of the visualization is a Leafet.js interactive map which allows you to choose a state, metro area or county to compare census data in the selected area with the data for the rest of the United States.

After you have selected a location on the map you can compare a range of social-economic data related to 18-34 year old adults with the data from previous censuses. The data reveals that while young Americans today are on the whole better educated that previous generations they are much worse off financially, are more likely to be living with parents, more likely to be living in poverty and less likely to be in employment.