I couldn't have graduated college in 2001 if I had the cost of living that exists today.

Couldn't have done it.  I barely was able to afford food and rent after paying tuition and for books each semester.  I would have been forced to either enlist in the military or pursue some kind of unskilled profession until I could either afford a trade school or enroll in university.  

So, my heart goes out to the Gen Z kids.  As easy as it is to make fun of them at the end of the day they're in this awful position in no small part due to the actions of Boomers and lack of action by Gen X and Millennials.

I tell my new-grad 6-figure income coworkers to live with mom and dad until they are ready to get married. Sock away a mortgage payment in your account and use it as a downpayment.

$36,000/yr into a high yield account, $72,000 if your future spouse is smart too, will have even expensive NY prices within reach after 3-4 years.

There is no reason to move out just "so I can have my own place" or "my parents are killing me with rules".

Just live six hours from work in a 1970s trailer and drive a 1987 Japanese econobox with 400k miles on it and eat Ramen noodles. That's what I did and now I'm [insert job that actually pays 60% of what I assert].

Where do you live, may I ask?

Also please be careful about what "we" are talking about.  Clearly, as this thread and pretty much every other thread demonstrates, "we" are never talking about the same thing.  For example, around here what I described, partially in jest I'll admit, would actually cost about $350-400k.

Yeah, clearly no exaggeration ever happens on either side.  

Yes, clearly that was a post meant to be taken entirely literally. Thank you for your valuable contribution.

I'm in one of the major cities in Texas. When I said "we," I was referring to my post and the poster that I had replied to; not the dumpster fire of a thread. I didn't mean it in a smartass way.

I think the frustrations in these threads are always that older generations suddenly seem to be blind to very obvious issues younger people are facing. I own a large home in a great area; I'm doing just fine. But I'm young enough to know that the starter homes I could easily choose from 4-6 years ago, are completely out of reach for someone in my exact same position (I couldn't buy my current home today if I had to start over.)

There always seems to be a handful of older posters that chime in with outlandish posts about avocado toast, iphones, 'back in my day,' and 'just move to a more affordable area...' People here completely contradict themselves, and seemingly don't even care how ignorant they sound. A person cannot go into the trades, start a family, not live with their parents, and come up with the $80k downpayment + furniture/moving/closing costs for today's average starter homes.