All I Want Is A Latte: The Truth About Being A Broke Millennial

Let’s be honest. It’s not the $6 latte that’s ruining us, it’s the student loans and unlivable wages. You won’t hear Dave Ramsey talking about that.

Life has seemingly become more of a challenge when you have to choose between getting a $6.75 oat milk vanilla latte and putting gas in your car. I know getting the latte seems crazy, but as a millennial, this is something a lot of us know all too well. It’s more than whether or not we should buy the latte or if it’s even financially responsible to buy the latte. Its that we shouldn’t have to be in that dilemma in the first place. A coffee shouldn’t seem like a luxury.

I work a job that pays me like I just work there for fun, I live in a city where rent is the price of a Chanel Classic Flap Bag, and I have healthcare that seems like I’m playing Russian roulette with my health every month.

The hard thing about being an adult is we can play by the rules and save every extra dime we get, but life will always throw us curveballs. Whether it’s our cars deciding they don’t want to work anymore or our pets needing a surprise visit to the vet, our savings can seem like they’re always running on empty.

I went to Taco Bell the other day and wanted to get a salad and it was going to cost me over $11. ELEVEN DOLLARS?! For a fast food salad? Yes, I know they have items you can get for just a little over a dollar, but truth be told, I didnt want any of those items. I wanted a salad, but I ended up walking out because if I was going to spend over $10 to get food, I certainly wasn’t going to spend that on Taco Bell. And that says a lot because I really love Taco Bell. They’ve been my go-to option since I stop eating meet in the 2000’s.

Heres the thing. I grew up being taught that hard work and a good education are all we need to set ourselves up for success. We were fed a dream that may have existed for generations before us, but the reality is it doesn’t exist now. Roughly 15 million millennials in the U.S. carry student loans. Millennials hold an estimated 47%, nearly half, of the country’s outstanding student debt.

I want to do a breakdown of how much millennial living really costs. For this, I decided to take a look at the top five cities in the USA and what it costs to really live there.

Manhattan, NY

Population: 8,478,072

Monthly cost of living: $4,100-4,500

Average price of a latte: $6.00-6.50

Los Angeles, CA

Population: 3,878,704

Monthly cost of living: $3,300-3,600

Average price of a latte: $5.50-6.50

Chicago, IL

Population: 2,721,308

Monthly cost of living: $2,700-3,000

Average price of a latte: $4.50-5.00

Houston, TX

Population: 2,390,125

Monthly cost of living: $2,200-2,400

Average price of a latte: $4.50-5.50

Philadelphia, PA

Population: 1,573,916

Monthly cost of living: $2,500-2,700

Average price of a latte: $4.25-5.30

At the end of the day, it’s about more than just a cup of coffee. It’s about how something as simple as a coffee can get us off to a great start and help get us through the workday, but we are faced with the reality that $6 can make something seem more like a luxury that will put a dent in our bank account.

We feel like home ownership or reliable working cars will always be out of reach because we want something to get us through the day. Coffee shouldn’t feel like a moral dilemma. Grabbing a breakfast sandwich on the way to work shouldn’t have us grappling with the possible consequences.

The truth of living in these gorgeous and colorfully vibrant cities is that it seems more like a fantasy than a reality. We walk down the sides of gorgeous skyscrapers, stepping over dirty sidewalks with the aroma of trash wafting through the air. We are faced with the millennial hardship that is debt.

I mean, we are slaving away at our office jobs, or our restaurant shifts, or our work from home hellscapes, all so we have enough money just to keep our selves from sleeping out on the sidewalk. We strain out eyes all day or burn our feet into the ground just to by cheap groceries were too tired to actually cook with and pay bills for things we didn’t wish we needed.