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Earning six figures but living paycheck to paycheck — that’s what it means to be a HENRY.
As Gen Zers approach 30, a very small subset of the generation is aging into this acronym, which stands for high earners, not rich yet, and was coined by Fortune’s Shawn Tully.
With inflation biting extra hard during their young adult years, younger Americans increasingly think they need to earn more to achieve stability. In a 2024 Bankrate survey, Gen Zers said they’d need to make $200,000 a year to feel financially secure. At the same time, Gen Zers deal with “money dysmorphia,” or an unrealistic perception of their own financial soundness and feeling stressed over money, largely due to social comparison and outdated ideas of what’s affordable. Indeed, middle-income Americans have been living more like their lower-income counterparts, indicating that for Americans to feel middle-class, they actually need to be high-earning.
To figure out who in Gen Z is actually earning above that threshold — and may exemplify the HENRY title — we delved into Census Bureau microdata from the Current Population Survey’s 2024 Annual Social and Economic Supplement. We only looked at adult Gen Zers with a total income of $250,000 or more. Though Gen Z birth years span from 1997 to 2012, we only looked at those ages 18 to 27 in 2024.
On average, these Gen Z HENRYs made just above $565,000 a year, compared to around $28,700 for all Gen Zers reflected in the microdata. They also skewed slightly more male than the wider Gen Z cohort.
On average, Gen Z HENRYs were around 24 years old in 2024. They were also more likely to be married than their wider Gen Z cohort, and those marriages seem to be sticking so far — essentially 0% of Gen Z HENRYs were separated or divorced.
Demographically, Gen Z HENRYs were also less likely to be white than their cohort peers, and more likely to be Asian or Pacific Islander.
Gen Z HENRYs were also more likely to have a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree and beyond, both of which can contribute to a wage premium. And HENRYs might have the entrepreneurial bug: They’re more likely than the rest of Gen Z to be self-employed, although the vast majority held wage or salary roles in the private sector.
Gen Z HENRYs were less likely to be homeowners than the wider Gen Z cohort, with 40% of HENRYs owning homes compared to around 53% of all Gen Zers. Conversely, HENRYs were more likely to be renters. However, homeowning HENRYs were more likely to live in more valuable properties — their estimated current property values were around $455,000 compared to around $441,000 for all of Gen Z.
That tracks with a larger trend: Some high-earning Americans, especially younger ones, are opting for rent — it’s increasingly become a better deal than maintaining and buying a home for many, and many higher-earners like the flexibility and amenities that come with a rental.
Are you a Gen Z HENRY, or an aspiring Gen Z HENRY? Contact this reporter at [email protected].
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