Americans carry an average of $78,030 in debt. So how do we stack up by age? 

This cool infographic from Experian shows that Generation X (ages 30 to 46) carries the most debt and lowest scores, while millennials (ages 19-29) are slowly, but surely building up their credit by paying off their retail cards, mortgages and auto loans. 

Experian finds Boomers' credit (ages 47-65) is holding steady, but the reward for the least debt and most pristine scores goes to the Greatest Generation (ages 66 and up). Their average score: a princely 829. 

Check out more of the fun stats below: 

See how 12 millennials got hooked on debt > 

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There is a major shift occuring in the workforce and women are at the center of it. 

Between 1984 and 2009, the number of working women has increased from 44 million to 72 million, Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, vice-president and managing director of Apollo Research Institute, says in her book Society 3.0: How Technology Is Reshaping Education, Work and Society.

With this rapid change, women's skill sets are more prevalent in the workforce now than in the past, especially as women hold more management positions. 

Based on the company's study — not scheduled to be released until the end of 2012 — women are bringing these skills into the workplace:

1. They're more intuitive to bringing in all points of view. This allows for more collaboration and win-win situations. In today's complex working environment, this way of doing business is essential. 

"Women are more inclined to investigate both sides to see if both parties can actually have a desirable outcome," Wilen-Daugenti told us. "They're more willing to ask, 'What do you want out of this?' "

2. They have different values than men do. They're much more empathetic to the diverse workforce needs. If an employee is conflicted between work and other aspects of her life, a woman in a senior position would more likely notice the needs of her employee:

"Women say they are much more in tune with the diverse workforce where they feel like men are not as supportive or empathetic," Wilen-Daugenti says.

3. Women are stronger with networking, sponsoring and supporting each other. Wilen-Daugenti says that the women she surveys report that they help each other out more often than men do. 

However, one of the biggest mistakes women make in the workforce is their lack of confidence, she says. They underestimate their potential and, therefore, don't achieve as much as they could.

The shift in women in the workforce could have something to do with the fact that American women have received more college diplomas than men since 1992. In fact, for every two men in college, there are three women, and females are also more likely to pursue an advance degree, Wilen-Daugenti says.

"If you look at the unemployment numbers, education continues to be the key differentiator in people who are getting jobs and people who are not. "If you run the numbers, it's inevitable that there will be more women than men in the future workplace. Men, unfortunately, are not going to school."

"Women are postponing marriage for five years and having fewer children. In my organization, I really need people with master's degrees and PhDs and the volume of resumes that come to me are mostly women because they can meet these new credentials."

NOW SEE: 7 big changes workplaces are making to stay competitive> 

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Today, young Americans have abandoned the pioneer dream to migrate to better opportunities and settle in more prosperous lands.

According to the Pew Research Center, the number of young adults living at home doubled between 1980 and 2008, and the overall migration rate reached its lowest level from 2007 to 2008 since World War II. Somewhere between the previous generation and today, Americans have become risk-aversed, decided not to fly the coop and dubbed as "Generation Stuck" by Derek Thompson at The Atlantic:

Like the fall in homeownership, and the decline of marriage, the slowdown in American migration is a long-term trend that accelerated in the recession. But there is something peculiar about our current state of statism. Americans are most likely to move long distances when they are (a) young, (b) single, and (c) renters. We have plenty of young people. We have a historic number of singles. With home ownership gutted, rents are rising across the country. So, why aren't we moving more?

But the crucial question is, how will this affect us in the long-run? Young people are supposed to take chances, pack their bags and move to places where their job prospects are better, but if they're unwilling to do so, will this lead to a slow recovering economy?

Todd and Victoria Buchholz at The New York Times report that it will:

But Generation Y has become Generation Why Bother. The Great Recession and the still weak economy make the trend toward risk aversion worse. Children raised during recessions ultimately take fewer risks with their investments and their jobs. Even when the recession passes, they don’t strive as hard to find new jobs, and they hang on to lousy jobs longer.

Brookings, a public policy organization, says the global recession has "left Americans flat-footed, as would-be movers were unable to find financing to buy a new home, buyers for their existing homes, or employment in more desirable areas."

In other words, young Americans have sadly lost their wings to fly. 

DON'T MISS: 13 ways the recession has changed how millennials view work>

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In the past few years, the influx of immigrants (both legal and illegal) has been lower than previously projected due to the economic crisis sweeping through the nation. John Pitkin and Dowell Myer of University of South Carolina looked at these changes in the immigration patterns and the impact they would have on the U.S. population in 2040. 

While one fifth of the U.S. population consisted of minorities in 1980s, by 2010 their share of the population amounted to one third, and by 2040 it's expected to be almost one half. The foreign-born population will have shifted from 1980 when one third was of Hispanic descent to it being more than half Hispanic in 2040. 

As the influx of immigrants has decreased and is not expected to surpass peak numbers recorded in 2000 in the near future, it's likely that the settled immigrants will outnumber recent immigrants. According to the report, this "rapidly increasing length of U.S. residence" among the foreign born population "lays the basis for stronger social, economic, and civic ties and better integration in the national fabric."

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In 1967, I was 22 years old and sitting in a movie theater watching Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. For my generation at that point, there is one word from that movie that will never be forgotten. The moment we heard it, we all laughed! We laughed at the greed and self-absorption of an older generation who talked the talk, but turned its collective face from the challenges of the present and the future, our future.

Contrary to popular opinion, we were not all liberals. There were conservatives and others who would later choose to call themselves “libertarians”. Although young, we had our heroes, both living and dead, from older generations, Ayn Rand born in 1905, Barry Goldwater born in 1909, and John F. Kennedy born in 1917, among others.

But we shared one thing in common, the feeling that our futures were at stake, but most in the older generation didn’t much care. And we saw it expressed here.

That was followed by decades of struggle, struggles that were fertile ground for votes and for hypocrisy.

There was Lyndon Baines Johnson, elected President on a “peace platform” in 1964, following that up with a doubling-down in the War in Vietnam in 1965.

There was Richard Nixon, elected in the name of “law and order”, who authorized criminal activity that led to substantial disorder.

There was Bill Clinton, a supporter of the women’s movement who preached the dangers of sexual harassment in the work place, until we were introduced to his office intern.

I suppose it’s no surprise that their hypocrisy was followed by ours, but it is pathetic to see and hear, nonetheless. I am 67. I know too many 60-something conservatives who bitterly criticize entitlements for people “simply’ because they are black, Hispanic, and/or female, but go ballistic if anyone challenges their Social Security entitlement, provided to them simply because they are old. I know too many 60-something liberals who pontificate endlessly on the aftermaths of the War in Vietnam and the War in Iraq, but never have a word to say about the aftermaths of the 1999 War in Serbia or last year’s War in Libya. I have even met a couple 60-something libertarians who have a list of “exceptions”, abortion for example, where their personal beliefs trump the liberty of others.

But worst of all, our generation chose to copy that which we criticized in our parents’ generation, greed and worship at the altar of the Great God Mammon, without regard to the consequences. We replaced “plastics” with “high tech” and took ourselves and our families over a cliff. No sooner was that behind us then we came up with “real estate” and went over the cliff again. But this time, we left behind a huge mountain of debt to be paid by today’s 20-somethings for the rest of their lives and their children’s lives. Let’s call it adding injury to insult. There’s another movie clip from way back that seems appropriate today.

It seems we need more than a hero, we need a superhero.

I have waited for years to hear the younger generation of Americans call us out on our hypocrisy, but heard little. Perhaps that is changing. It certainly is time for it.

Chester See, with his 680,000+ subscribers and 64,000,000+ views, is one of the young Americans who has built a career thanks to YouTube. Let’s hear from him.

Hey, Chester! Sounds like you’re catching on! Good. I hope you’re not alone and not just with other Americans. There are some folks in Europe who need to catch on and fast.

There has always been and always will be a degree of hypocrisy in all aspects of private and public life. It is simply one aspect of human behavior. But there are times when a crisis reaches a level that we deserve more than that from our leaders, on both sides of the Atlantic, regardless of their ideological pretenses. This is one of those times.

One way to encourage that is to practice it ourselves. If all we can do is point our finger at the guilty party, than we can do that in front of the mirror as well.

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This is how a baby boom ends. Not with a bust, but with a lot of old workers.

For the first time ever, workers over-55 are set to make up a bigger share of the workforce than workers between 25 and 34 years old. The chart below (via Conor Sen) shows the share of younger workers (blue) versus older workers (red) since 1950.

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WASHINGTON -- I worry about the future -- not mine but that of my three children, all in their 20s. It is an axiom of American folklore that every generation should live better than its predecessors. But this is not a constitutional right or even an entitlement, and I am skeptical that today's young will do so. Nor am I alone. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll finds that nearly 60 percent of Americans are also doubters. I meet many parents who fear the future that awaits their children.

The young (and I draw the line at 40 and under) face two threats to their living standards. The first is the adverse effect of the Great Recession on jobs and wages. Even if this fades with time, there's the second threat: the costs of an aging America. It's not just Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- huge transfers from the young to the old -- but also deferred maintenance on roads, bridges, water systems and power grids. Newsweek calls the young "generation screwed"; I prefer the milder "generation squeezed."

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It's no longer a shock to see a 40-year-old intern.

Stay-at-home mothers, trying to get back into the workplace and many unemployed people trying to transition into new careers are accepting internships as a way to get their feet in the door.

In fact, many successful retraining programs include a requirement that the worker spend time in an internship. But even if 40-year-old interns are more accepted, it doesn't mean that it's easy to work side-by-side with 23-year-olds. Especially if your boss is a decade younger than you.

There can be big challenges, but here are five survival tips.

1. Walk in with confidence.

The negative self-talk—"I can't believe I'm doing this"—is going to hurt your performance. Focus on what you want to learn about the job and the industry. Give your younger boss the same respect that you would want given to you. Hold your head high and feel confident that you are being proactive about your future.

2. Recognize that your previous experiences are an asset.

You've probably had many life experiences that other team members have not. So when looking at new project, ask yourself, "How can I add value?" What prior experience and skills do you have that will help you contribute to the end goal? Once you do that, you will be recognized as a major asset—by your manager and co-workers.

3. Open up.

Everyone has a story. Some interns will talk about their parents pushing them into the field. Don't feel like you need to hide your situation from your co-workers. Come up with a three- or four-sentence explanation of why you are at the internship. Perhaps it's because you are exploring a new field, going back to work or got laid off. These aren't reasons to be ashamed of. Make sure that your story has a positive spin. The goal isn't to make people feel bad about you—it's to help people connect and relate to your experiences.

4. Let your boss know your goal.

You, more than any other intern, must make sure that your superiors in the workplace know your post-internship goal. You aren't there to play around for a summer or just appease your parents. Sit down with your internship coordinator at some point during the internship; after you thank him or her for the opportunity, explain what you like about the work, what your career goal is, and ask for advice. This will ensure that you are on the same page as your employer. Also, two weeks before the end of your internship, sit down with your employer again and ask for advice on how to land a job at that company or a similar one.

5. Constantly build relationships.

Anytime you meet someone from a department that you might be interested in, ask the person if you could have a brief meeting at some point so you can hear how he or she got started. Informal, informational meetings are a great way to turn these contacts into strong professional relationships. Always remember to ask, "Is there anyone else at the company you think I should connect with?"

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Do neighborhoods work like habitat for different kinds of households? City populations have rebounded in the past two decades as people who like city habitats have grown in numbers and in their share of the population.

Mostly these are the Millennials - adults roughly 20 to 34-years-old, also known as Generation Y or the Echo Boom - who have delayed childbearing, marriage, and even household formation because of a combination of changing culture and economic necessity. Urban living makes sense for these young people: compared with suburbs, cities often provide young adults more opportunities to switch jobs, meet friends and potential spouses, enjoy entertainment outside their homes, live without a car, and travel to other parts of the country and world.

One of the most interesting questions for cities in the next 10 to 20 years is how many Millennials will stay there. The last time this big a generation of young people started reaching their late 20s was the Baby Boomers in the early 1970s. Is that transition a good point of reference for the Millennials? Many signs point to no.

In 1970, half of all women had married before their 21st birthdays, and half of men before they turned 24. Most moved straight from their parents’ homes to new homes with their spouses. Whether they’d grown up in cities or in suburbs, the logical destination for them, if they could afford it, was the suburbs. Enough of them could afford it that city populations dropped faster in the 1970s than in either the 1950s or the 1960s; fair housing laws, too, enabled people of all races to find suburban housing more easily in the 1970s and 1980s than they could in previous decades.

By 2010, the median marriage age had increased to over 26 for women and over 28 for men. Childbearing has plummeted since the 1970s among teenagers and even women in their 20s, resulting in lower overall numbers of children born per woman and later ages at first birth. Millennials now living in cities like New York, Washington, Boston, and Chicago have started putting down roots in urban neighborhoods. They have generated new demands for local government and businesses so that cities are becoming places where families stay by choice and not just by necessity. Schools are getting better in many cities, and in practically every city, crime has declined. As well, many young families will continue to live in cities out of necessity. Many more young mothers now than in the 1970s are unmarried, increasing their economic insecurity and leading them to rely more than middle- and upper-income families on affordable rental housing, networks of friends and kin, and convenient bus transit.

How big an impact might Millennials have? Urban Institute estimates suggest that they will form between 15 and 18 million new households between 2010 and 2020 alone. These households aren’t just poised to be more numerous than any previous generation; they’re also the most diverse generation on record. Because of their diversity and the timing of their coming of age, Millennials may affect tomorrow’s cities as much as Baby Boomers have shaped today’s suburbia.

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It's going to be called "Booming" and it's The New York Times tribute to the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, also known as the Baby Boomers. 

The blog's first post was written today by The NYT's Michael Winerip who says "...our generation, the biggest in the country’s history, has always given ourselves and everyone else lots to talk about," so basically why not start a blog about it?

Winerip gives a brief glimpse into what the blog will cover: It will "showcase essays from readers in their 50s writing about their lives, but also essays by 25-year-olds describing their parents’ lives." It will cover issues that Boomers deal with —  Medicare, Social Security, unemployment trends, aging, retirement, investing and sex.

What Booming won't be is "one big Springsteen concert."

"We will not debate whether Barack Obama (born 1961) is a boomer if he texts with his thumbs," he writes. 

Winerip also mentions in his post that "Rush Limbaugh is a baby boomer."

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One of the biggest issues that employers have with their Gen Y workers is what appears to be their "lack of loyalty."

Millennials are thought to be a generation who are more apt to move from one opportunity to the next, and employers are having a hard time retaining these workers. 

The problem is, Gen Y's definition of loyalty might be entirely different from their employer's definition of loyalty, writes Cam Marston at Business Know How.

It's not that younger workers don't embody loyalty — it's actually the opposite. Millennials are very loyal — they're just not loyal to a company; they're loyal to their bosses. Marston, author of the book "Motivating the 'What's In It For Me' Workforce," says that effective bosses are the number one reason why Millennials stay at a job.

"They have great respect for leaders and loyalty," but "they don't respect authority 'just because.' For the younger generations, every ounce of loyalty and respect must be earned. But when it is earned, it is given fiercely."

Furthermore, the number one reason Millennials quit their jobs is because they're dissatisfied with their bosses.

This is why it's so important to have exceptional leaders at companies to retain these younger workers. They don't want someone who micromanages and thinks of them as just another worker. They want someone who inspires them to stay at a company. 

Marston says that employers run into issues when they try to compare Gen Y workers to employees in other generations. 

"My advice to you: Don't waste time wishing they were different. Don't spend your energy comparing today's youth to the desires and drive you had at age 18," he writes. "These employees are not a reflection of you, nor are they an earlier version of you. And again, that is okay. Your task is to take this new understanding and use it to reposition how you interact with, motivate, and reward your staff."

Now see: Recruiters reveal what they really think of job hoppers > 

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Sadly, the down economy has put a lot of workers over age 50 in the unenviable position of needing to find a new profession.

Don’t believe that old cliché about middle-aged dogs and new tricks, though; lots of wildly successful people found big success in careers they began after their fiftieth birthdays.

Here are just a few examples.

Edmond Hoyle

Whether or not you know it, you probably owe Hoyle a tip of the cap each time you reach for a deck of cards. The Englishman is considered to be the world’s first technical writer on the rules of card games, and he didn’t put pen to paper as a young card sharp.

Hoyle was around 70 years old when he first began recording the rules of various card games in 1741; over the last 27 years of his life, his smash hit A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist went through over a dozen editions.

Colonel Sanders

Harland Sanders was no slouch as a young man, but he didn’t become the string-tied chicken mogul we know and love until he was 65.

“The Colonel” had a relatively successful restaurant and motel on U.S. 25 in Corbin, KY, but when Interstate 75 opened seven miles from Sanders’ restaurant, his business begin to dwindle.

Rather than go broke, he began to work on perfecting his spice blend and quick-cooking technique for making fried chicken in 1952. He then began touring the country selling Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises, and by the time he sold the business for $2 million in 1964, there were over 900 of them.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie may be some of the world’s most beloved children’s books, but she was no spring chicken when she sat down to write them.

Wilder didn’t publish her first novel until she was 65 years old, and she still managed to crank out 12 books in her series, although some were published posthumously.

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The evolving transfer of obligations from old to young is a theme that deserves more attention. It’s a slow-moving, demographic event so isn’t something that’s likely to produce a headline. But a consequence of the enormous debt the U.S., has built up and the under-funded entitlement obligations is that the bill will be paid by young people including many not yet old enough to vote (or indeed not yet even born).

The Economist, my favorite weekly magazine, wrote a piece this weekend highlighting the disparity between “net lifetime tax burdens” for different age groups. Today’s retiring baby boomers are likely to receive far more in social security and Medicare than they paid in taxes. Older people vote too, so a fairer distribution of the burden or a corresponding modification of entitlements is likely to meet ongoing political opposition.

However, in one sense an adjustment is being made. Retirees are suffering disproportionately from the slow wealth transfer that low interest rates represent. By keep bond yields so low, inflation and taxes steadily reduce the purchasing power of (older) savers to the benefit of (younger) debtors. So maybe there is a modest form of justice at work, albeit not articulated that way by Ben Bernanke.

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Walmart is opening small versions of its mega-stores on college campuses.

The retailer recently announced its plan to open a new concept store at Arizona State University. The initiative is part of the chain's new "Walmart On Campus" initiative. A similar store is already open at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and a third is planned at Georgia Tech.

Arizona State's Walmart will only have about 10 employees and includes plans for a pharmacy, grocery and convenience items, and campus merchandise. The grand opening is scheduled for May. The new store already has a Facebook page, but it's only gotten 22 likes. 

“Walmart on Campus is a small-format test store that allows us to bring our low prices to students in a convenient location,” store manager Mario Espino told the Phoenix Business Journal. He added that the store will not sell alcohol.

Walmart's new campus stores are smaller than regular Walmart supercenters. Arizona State's store will be about 5,000 square feet and Georgia Tech's will be only 2,500. That's tiny compared to the chain's 180,000-plus square foot Super Walmarts. 

Advertising Age notes that this small-store format is one the chain also could use to branch into its untapped urban markets with large millennial populations, like New York. 

Although it wasn't tied to the store's announcement, the Rob and Melani Walton Fund of the Walton Family Foundation also donated $27.5 million last spring to Arizona State's Global Institute of Sustainability. The gift is the fourth-largest in the university's history, according to AZcentral.

SEE ALSO: The Biggest Myth About Walmart >

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The percentage of U.S. households that owns a home has dropped significantly in recent years, and experts say this downward trend might well continue for at least several more. Still, housing is notoriously cyclical, and experts say the United States isn't likely to become a nation of renters.

The trough after the peak

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the seasonally adjusted national homeownership rate stood at 65.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. That was a big dip compared with the peak of 69.4 percent in 2004 but comparable to the 65.4 percent rate way back at the beginning of 1996.

The decline has been larger than typical, but so was the rise that preceded it, explains Patrick Simmons, director of strategic planning for Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group.

"In addition to the severity of the recession, which definitely contributed to the larger-than-typical decline, there was also a somewhat artificial runup in the homeownership rate in the five or 10 years leading up to the recession," Simmons says.

The ownership generation gap

What's more, the drop hasn't been felt evenly across the generations. Instead, Simmons explains, "Elderly homeownership rates held their own, but there was an outsized decline amongst folks who were younger, particularly in the 25-to-34 and 35-to-44 age groups."

Bad timing was one reason for the harsh effect on younger people. While many seniors are long-term homeowners who have substantial equity, younger people more likely bought at the peak of the housing boom, when prices were inflated and ownership was less sustainable.

"That probably contributed to the outsized decline amongst young households," Simmons says.

'Renters in waiting'

These homeownership rates might be overstated because they don't take into account the millions of people who are at least 90-days late on their mortgage payments. Those in this group shouldn't be counted as owners, but rather as "renters in waiting," says Sean Fergus, manager of research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif. 

"A number of people have been living in their homes for a year without making payments. There's no way they're going to recover that and pay back 12 months' of skipped mortgage payments. They're just riding it out until the foreclosure proceeding actually occurs," Fergus says.

Fergus says excluding these folks pegs the true homeownership rate today not at 65.3 percent, but more like 62.1 percent, the lowest level in nearly 50 years.

Owner, tenant -- what's the diff?

Homeowners in neighborhoods that were hard-hit by foreclosures might well be dismayed by low homeownership numbers. But Fergus notes that many vacated post-foreclosure houses are likely to be reoccupied by renters, including some former homeowners.

"As long as there's a tenant, usually someone who was a single-family (homeowner) who got displaced and is looking to rent for three years until their credit repairs, that's going to add stability to any kind of neighborhood," Fergus says.

Eventually, he predicts, about 70 percent of displaced homeowners will buy again, pushing the homeownership rate back up to 66 percent. But that won't happen anytime soon. More like 2025.

Might college delay homeownership?

Young people might not rebound quickly into homeownership due partly to higher consumer and student debt.

"Qualifying for a mortgage is significantly more difficult for a lot of people who are coming out of college with $50,000-plus in student loans," Fergus says.

Still, many aspire to own

That's not to say people of any age have lost the desire to own a home. Rather, just the opposite is the case, according to a recent Fannie Mae survey of 10,000 people.

"The desire for homeownership and plans for homebuying have held up remarkably well," Simmons says. "It doesn't seem that there has been a substantial deterioration in terms of folks' long-term aspirations for homeownership, and that includes those young households."

Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist of the California Association of Realtors in Los Angeles, also says the suggestion that young people have decided to remain renters for life isn't credible.

"A lot of young people don't have jobs, don't have a down payment. Their credit is shot because they've gone through a bankruptcy. That's more of a dominant issue with respect to demand," Appleton-Young says. "I don't know if I believe they don't want to own homes anymore."

SEE ALSO: The 12 worst supermarkets in America >

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Many young people share the same dream of ditching the suburbs to live in America’s largest city, New York.

But making it in the Big Apple as a person in your late 20s or early 30s isn’t as glamorous as they make it out to be in "Sex in the City" or "Girls." 

New York has one of the highest costs of living in the country. Recently, there have been reports that New York is even pushing out its middle class. Just to be considered in the middle-income bracket, New Yorkers have to make at least $45,000 to $134,000 annually.

So what does it take just to get your foot in the door here as a young adult? We talked to two real estate experts — Svenja Gudell, a Zillow senior economist, and J. Philip Faranda, broker and owner of J. Philip Real Estate — to understand what it really takes for a person in their late 20s or early 30s to make it in NYC.

Where they live. Not too surprising, most young adults can’t afford Manhattan prices. Gudell looked up prices of rents in Manhattan and even as a real estate expert, she was surprised at the result. Rents have exploded, and in just the past year, Manhattan prices have risen by 20.8%, Gudell said.

“If you look at West Village or Midtown, rents are around $4,000 for the median rental property there,” Gudell said. “I’m not talking about a five bedroom penthouse … I would assume that’s a one bedroom or two bedroom at most.”

Even though Manhattan’s the place to be, the hot spot for people in their late 20s and early 30s is across the river.

“[It’s] Brooklyn, without a doubt,” Faranda said. “Brooklyn has reached what you might consider critical mass. It’s not isolated out there and there’s a social life in Brooklyn.”

Brooklyn’s been a trendy spot for a while for people in their earlier years, but Faranda pointed to Park Slope and Bedford-Stuyvesant as a few up-and-coming neighborhoods. In general, anything along the coast of the East River is popular because the ease of commuting into the city, he said. 

“There was a time when Bed-Stuy was not some place people wanted to go, but it’s gentrified incredibly,” Faranda said.

Rent. Faranda said it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what a young person would ideally want to pay for their apartment, but anything more than a couple thousand is probably too high. At the early stages of their careers, young adults make widely varying salaries, and Faranda said the natural answer to how much they want to pay in rent is “as little as possible.”

“When you’re 28 and you maybe have a cat, maybe a dog and maybe a goldfish … if there’s just (you), you want under $2,000,” Faranda said.

By the time a person strikes their late 20s, they are also often trying to get away from having roommates and typically try to live by themselves or with their significant other, he said.

“That’s where the trend is just because that’s the station in life,” he said.

Below are some of Zillow’s median rent list prices for popular neighborhoods in New York. Citywide, the median rent list price is $2,730.

-Bedford-Stuyvesant: $1,800

-Astoria: $2,100

-Williamsburg: $2,900

-Park Slope: $2,600

Gudell said some of the areas where rents are growing the fastest include Flatlands and Georgetown in southeastern Brooklyn and Sunset Park in western Brooklyn — all places where 20-somethings might reside. Some of the places rents are growing the slowest are Murray Hill, Turtle Bay and Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, she added, which have a lot of young people as well.

“Rents are still very high in (those areas), so high that (they're) just not growing as fast as some of these up and coming Brooklyn places,” Gudell said.

Renting vs. buying. Although it’s still probably the norm for a person in their late 20s or early 30s to be renting in New York City, buying real estate has become a more attractive prospect for people nationwide — and that includes New York City.

But for a person in their 20s or 30s who’s still trying out different neighborhoods and isn’t ready to settle down in one location for more than two or three years, renting’s still the best option, Gudell said. 

“Be careful that you’re not getting in over your head if you do end up buying,” she said.

Gudell said the top advice she gives people when apartment hunting is to look for a place that will give them a short commute time to work, since that’s a trip that they have to make every day. That's especially true for people who don't yet have kids and aren't worried about hunting for good school districts or family-friendly areas.

Other costs. According to 2010 numbers from the Nest, the cost of groceries in New York is less than you would expect. A 26- to 35-year-old couple living in New York City is estimated to spend $274 monthly on groceries, compared to $390 for a couple in Omaha, Nebraska. Other sites have higher numbers — estimating the prices at close to $100 per week for two people.

For entertainment, Faranda said the younger generation has figured out how to have fun on “a shoestring budget,” even in New York. A lot of people in their 20s and 30s have cut out cable costs by opting for a Netflix subscription, for example.

“Their ability to get entertainment and recreation through their iPad and their (mobile device) is pretty darn good,” he said.

It’s easy to be tempted by five-star restaurants and high-profile concerts when living in such proximity to Manhattan. But people in their 20s need to know how to set a budget as much as anyone. And it's smart to price hunt across the city for groceries and nightlife to find the best deals.

“After awhile, you start to get used to paying higher prices and you simply adapt your budget and what you buy until you get the most bang for your buck,” says becomeanewyorker.com.

Overall advice. Young adults are often looking for a deal and are willing to live in less-than-five-star conditions. But Faranda warned prospective renters to watch against anything that seems too good to be true. It probably is.

“It may not necessarily be a scam, but for example, I know someone who got a terrific deal on an apartment and then found out his landlord was going through his garbage,” Faranda said. “If something is too good to be true in housing, it probably is.”

Faranda also says people in their late 20s need to have their act together and go to a broker prepared, bringing copies of pay stubs, W-2 forms and credit reports. Typically, those are all required documents. And fill out your rental application completely with references who are willing to be called.

“Have your act together,” Faranda said. “Don’t make me go through your filing cabinet. Be a grown up.”

SEE ALSO: 13 money lies you should stop telling yourself by age 40 >

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The millennial generation is one of the most sought after -- and most misunderstood. Will Pearson, president and co-founder of mental_floss, a trivia-based magazine that he started in his college dorm room in 2001, has managed to hit the right note with this young audience in print, online, books, board games and T-shirts.

Pearson shared his insights for communicating with 20- and 30-somethings at this week's World Innovation Forum in New York City. Here are his top five tips.

1. Don't dumb down your message.
Millennials are goal setters, Pearson says. To understand their ambition, just look at their pop-culture heroes: overachievers like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. While the stereotype might be that this generation is irresponsible, he says, "Millennials start saving for retirement four years before Gen X did, and 10 years before baby boomers."

To reach this ambitious generation, Pearson says that you should recognize their intelligence. Present information in a fast-paced way through social media and in a way that helps them feel like they are making progress towards their goals.

2. Include a bit of playfulness in your content.
Unlike the anti-establishment boomers or the slacker Gen Xers, millennials aren't rebellious, Pearson says. They get along with their parents. The media they love is a combination of goofy, earnest and confident. Think Buzzfeed, Youtube and the recent explosion of kitten and puppy memes.

Tailor your messages with "quirk in an authentic voice," he says. In other words, don't be afraid of adding a little whimsy to your messaging, but be genuine about it. For example, mental_floss noticed the popularity of dog and bacon memes with their readers and started a successful reader-submitted short trivia section called Puppies Wearing Hats Eating Bacon Sharing Facts.

3. Create flexible content. 
Pearson says that millennials switch their attention between electronic devices up to 27 times an hour, so you have to create content that can capture that fleeting attention in every medium, around the clock.

Successful content might include a tweet that can be consumed in seconds while waiting for coffee, a top-10 list that can be read in 10 minutes on the train, or a longer video or blog post that can be enjoyed in 20 minutes at home.

4. Give them an opportunity to engage with your brand.
Millennials are used to interacting with brands on social media, and they are more likely to share their opinions of things they strongly like and dislike, as well as drive conversations on topics that they care about, Pearson says. To get the conversation going, ask questions and give them something that they want to share.

Engaging with millennials on social media isn't about driving traffic to your site or making quick sales, he says. Your social media content shouldn't always include a link. For example, mental_floss creates trivia e-postcards that fans share on Facebook. The postcards include the brand's name but not a link or sales pitch. "Most of our posts are focused on giving them meaningful content that they want to share," Pearson says, which builds their trust and loyalty.

5. Establish and uphold the value of your product.
Millennials are used to streaming music and videos and reading news for free online. But Pearson insists that if they want something, they will find a way to pay for it. He says that mental_floss shies away from offering discounts. Instead, they set a normal magazine cover price that is currently $5.99. They established early on that their product had a certain value, and their customers so far have been willing to pay for it.

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How different are Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers really?

If being an effective manager is understanding who you're managing, much of that knowledge comes down to understanding the generation that identifies your workers.

A new study published by EY, formerly Ernst & Young, includes insights from more than 1,200 professionals across generations and industries about the strengths and weaknesses of workers from different generations, based on the perceptions of their peers.

It finds that Millennials are tech-savvy, but aren't great team players. Gen X-ers are entrepreneurial-thinking, but rank low on executive presence. And last, but not least, Boomers are team players and loyal, but don't adapt so well.

The participants from the study were both managers and non-managers.

"As management shifts to younger generations, the research reveals areas companies can focus on to enhance skill sets, address the challenges of managing multiple generations, and retain and engage employees by understanding which workplace perks they may value most," Karyn Twaronite, a partner of Ernst & Young, says in the study. 

Below are the study's findings on the strengths and weaknesses of Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomers:

Generation Y / Millennials:

PROS: Members of Gen Y are believed to be the most tech-savvy (78% of respondents agree) who know how to use social media to leverage opportunities (70% of respondents agree). These younger workers are also regarded as being the most "enthusiastic" (68% of respondents agree) about their jobs.

CONS: Gen Y-ers scored the lowest on being a "team player" (45%), "hardworking" (39%) and "a productive part of my organization" (58%).

PERKS: More Gen Y respondents wanted to know when and how they can get a promotion (13%) compared to Gen X-ers (5%) and Boomers (4%).

Generation X

PROS: Most of the respondents in the study (70%) believed that Gen X are the most effective managers compared to managers from the Boomer (25%) or Gen Y (5%) generation. Members of Gen X scored the highest when it comes to being a "revenue generator" (58% of respondents agree), possessing traits of "adaptability" (49% of respondents agree), "problem-solving" (57% of respondents agree) and "collaboration" (53% of respondents agree).

CONS: Gen X-ers scored the lowest compared to other generations when it comes to displaying executive presence (28%) and being cost effective (34%).

PERKS: Gen X respondents ranked workplace flexibility as the most important perk (21%) and are more likely to walk away from their current job if flexibility isn't available (38% versus 33% of Gen Y and 25% of Boomers). 

Baby Boomers

PROS: Baby Boomers ranked the highest when it comes to being a productive part of their organizations (69% of respondents agree), "hardworking" (73% of respondents agree), a "team player" (56% of respondents agree), and mentoring others (55%).

CONS: On the other hand, Boomers ranked the lowest when it comes to being adaptable (10%) and collaborative.

PERKS: Not surprisingly, Boomers (28%) identified benefits, such as health care and retirement, as the most important perk compared to Gen X (19%) and Gen Y (147%).

Below is a chart illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of different generations in the workplace:

The study found that cash is still considered the most important perk across all generations, with 49% of respondents agreeing this is the case.

SEE ALSO: 3 Things That Separate Leaders From Managers

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Move over, millennials.

Marketers are beginning to target a new crop of young people who are rapidly growing in number and influence: Generation Z. 

Studies differ on the exact age range of Generation Z, but most agree they were born after 1990, which makes them the largest generational group in the U.S. 

We set out to discover who they are and what they eat and buy. Here's what we found:

Gen Z wants to change the world. 60% of them want to have an impact on the world, compared to 39% of millennials, according to a study by Sparks & Honey, a New York-based marketing agency. Roughly one in four Generation Z-ers are involved in volunteering.

Advanced college degrees are less important to them. 64% of Gen Z-ers are considering an advanced college degree, compared to 71% of millennials. 

They are more entrepreneurial than millennials. 72% of high school students want to start a business someday and 61% would rather be an entrepreneur than an employee when they graduate college, according to a study by Millennial Branding, a consulting firm, and Internships.com. 

They are digitally over-connected. Gen Z-ers multitask across at least five screens daily and spend 41% of their time outside of school with computers or mobile devices, compared to 22% 10 years ago, according to the Sparks & Honey report. "They suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out) more than millennials, so being culturally connected is critical," researchers wrote.

But they prefer to work independently. "This generation is very individualized," Dan Schawbel, the founder of Millennial Branding, told Business Insider. "While millennials seek mentors, Generation Z is more about helping themselves."

They worry about the economy more than anything else, including crime, politics, their parents' job security, politics, or the cost of goods.

This chart details some of their interests: 

They prefer home-cooked foods over processed, ready-to-eat meals such as cold cereal, according to a study by The NPD Group. They aren't big fans of microwaves and would rather use a stove top or oven to prepare meals. Salad consumption is expected to increase the most among Gen Z-ers over the next five years, followed by sandwiches and breakfast foods that require some cooking, such as eggs and pancakes.

Gen Z-ers spend more money on food and drinks than anything else, and their favorite eatery is Starbucks, according to Piper Jaffray's most recent semiannual survey of teens. Nike is their top clothing brand, followed by Forever 21, Action Sports Brands, American Eagle, and Polo Ralph Lauren.

They are less active. 66% of kids ages six to 11 say online gaming is their main source of entertainment, according to the Sparks & Honey report. On a related note, teen obesity has tripled between 1971 and 2010.

They lack brand loyalty. "The products themselves are more important to Generation Z than the brands that produce them, and these consumers will change brands easily in search of higher quality," according to Arkansas-based marketing agency Martin-Wilbourne Partners.

Gen Z-ers are close with their families."Their parents have a lot of control over the decisions that they make," Schawbel said. "Their influence is huge and plays into every aspect of their lives." Many of them are also living in multi-generational homes, as Baby Boomers age and move in with their kids.

They communicate with speed and often use emoticons and emojis instead of words."They are accustomed to rapid-fire banter and commentary," Sparks & Honey analysts wrote. "As a result, Gen Z are not precise communicators and leave a lot of room for interpretation."

Here's what Sparks & Honey recommends to effectively communicate with a Gen Z-er:

SEE ALSO: The 'Short Suit' Is Finally Going Mainstream

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The youngest generation of consumers, Generation Z, are traditional retail's worst nightmare.

Loosely qualified as anyone born after 1990, most of them are still too young to have their own income. But they have significant control over household purchases, such as toys, groceries, and clothing, according to a study by Sparks & Honey, a New York-based marketing firm. They also have an average allowance of nearly $70 a month, which translates to $44 billion a year, the study found.

But unlike generations that have preceded them, they lack brand loyalty. 

"The products themselves are more important to Generation Z than the brands that produce them, and these consumers will change brands easily in search of higher quality," according to Arkansas-based marketing agency Martin-Wilbourne Partners.

When millennials were teens, they were spending the majority of their budgets on clothing, according to Piper Jaffray's semi-annual survey on teen spending.

Members of Generation Z, on the other hand, spend most of their money on food and beverages, Piper Jaffray's most recent survey found. Starbucks is their favorite restaurant brand, followed by McDonald's, Chipotle, Olive Garden, and Taco Bell.

This shift in spending has contributed to the downfall of shopping malls, which were once considered prime destinations for teen meetups. Mall traffic among teenagers has declined 30% over the past decade, according to the Piper Jaffray survey. American teens visited malls an average of 29 times in 2014, compared to 38 times in 2007.

The trend has spelled disaster for many mall-based teen brands, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale, and American Eagle, which are all experiencing sales declines. 

To make things even more difficult, today's teens are making it harder for retailers to track their activity online. 

"As social media natives attuned to NSA surveillance issues, they are more concerned about disabling their phone's geolocation than their privacy settings," according to the Sparks & Honey report. "Gen Z are drawn to incognito media such as Snapchat, Secret and Whisper."

To reach the youngest generation of consumers, companies must engage them across multiple social media platforms and never attempt to stifle conversation about their products, according to Kathy Savitt, the founder and CEO of Lockerz, a Seattle-based social commerce site.

"Companies that expect Generation Z to be loyal based on a carefully crafted brand image and marketing message will find that their effort is wasted," Savitt writes in an editorial published by Mashable. "Generation Z simply doesn’t buy it. Instead, the product itself is what’s important, regardless of marketing campaigns."

"What does Generation Z care about?" she writes. "Finding and sharing the best stuff in the world. They aren’t just consumers, they are curators... As a result, marketers need to make it easy to share what their Gen Z customers love. From Facebook 'Likes' to branded tweets to Polyvore’s brand expression collages, it’s never been easier to share your opinion online."

But companies should be careful not to moderate or hide negative reviews, she adds. 

"Promoting an 'open brand' ethos will lead to better informed and more passionate curators," Savitt writes.

SEE ALSO: Millennials Are Old News — Here’s Everything You Should Know About Generation Z

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