Baby boomers, they're just like us. Or, rather, we're just like them. And by "we," I mean millennials. The inevitable march of time often means turning into your parents, no matter how much you swore you wouldn't. Millennials (and, to be fair, many Gen Xers) are no exception — now that the electricity bill is on you, you get why your dad was always admonishing you to turn the lights off.

Millennials — people born from 1981 to 1996 — have long had a "forever young" air to them. Obviously, they're not going to be young forever, and plenty of them are pushing 40 or already there, but the generation has been marked by a sense of arrested development. The stereotypical millennial is a 33-year-old still living in his parent's basement, lamenting he'll be a forever renter with no hope of retiring.

But the reality of many millennials is starting to more closely mirror their parents'. They're catching up on earnings and wealth, and while they're still behind on homeownership, they're not screwed. It may have taken them awhile to settle down, but they're getting around to it and heading to the suburbs. In short, millennials are looking increasingly boomer-esque, and in some areas, they're doing better than their parents.

Since his father died in 2022, William has spent a lot of time reflecting on how much he's turned into his old man. He followed his career path and became a lawyer. At 31, he's married, like his dad was when he was his age. He doesn't own a home yet, but he plans to buy a place someday soon in his hometown of Philadelphia. And while he's catching up to his dad in many ways, William, who asked for his last name to be withheld to protect his privacy, recognizes he's surpassed him in other areas. For one thing, he's more financially literate than his parents were, thanks to the "whole democratization of finance thing," he said. Not that he's doing anything weird on the stock market, but he knows how to buy an exchange-traded fund. Qualitatively, he's noticed similarities, too, in how he talks, his sense of humor, and how he sees the world.

"You realize that they are much more in you than you were maybe comfortable with, and you see some of the same strengths and flaws that your parents had," he said. "Everyone wants to be their own person, but statistically, I'm doing a version of the same job as both of my parents. It's like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, to be cliché."

Plenty of millennial apples are looking pretty treelike nowadays. While many weren't dealt the best hand at the start of their independent economic lives, they've done quite a bit of catching up.

The median weekly earnings of full-time workers ages 25 to 34 were $1,045 ($54,340 annually) in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up 4% from $1,004 in 1979 ($52,208), adjusted for inflation. For the 35-to-44 crowd, wages are up by 13%, to $1,250 ($65,000) from $1,102 ($57,304).

The oldest baby boomers reached 30 in 1976, while the youngest reached that mark in 1994. They hit 40 between 1986 and 2004. Elder millennials hit 30 in 2001, and the last batch will get there in 2026. Their 40th birthdays started coming in 2021 and will stop in 2036.

Wealthwise, millennials are also doing decently, if not even better than their parents. The Survey of Consumer Finances found that people ages 35 to 44 had a median net worth of $130,380 in 1989, adjusted for inflation. In 2022, that number was slightly higher, at $135,300. Those under 35 are doing better, too, with a net worth of $39,040 in 2022, compared with $18,740 in 1989.

Like William, other millennials are more invested in the stock market than their parents. This may be in part out of necessity — the shift from pensions to 401(k)s means retirement saving requires them to play the markets on their own. The Survey of Consumer Finances found that 63.6% of Americans ages 35 to 44 had stock holdings in 2022, compared with 39.2% in 1989. That number jumped to 54.4% from 22.7% for those under 35.

Even beyond the more passive investing of 401(k)s, 20.6% of people ages 35 to 44 invested in stocks directly as of 2022, compared with 16.5% in 1989. Direct stock ownership for people under 35 hit a record 23.1% in the latest reading, well above the 10.9% of young people who owned shares in 1989. This data seems to back up the sense among some millennials that investing was one area where their parents fell short.

That's the case for Faith Bergman, a 28-year-old who works in fintech and lives in New York. She's got plenty of similarities with her mother — she uses some of the same phrases (they're both particularly fond of "six in one, half a dozen in the other"), is overly enthusiastic about keeping her apartment clean, and attributes some of her outgoing personality traits to her upbringing. But she and her sister are more focused on investing and their financial well-being in the long term than their mom was.

"Investing, especially investing as a woman, has not always been a common theme or practice," Bergman said. "I think it's more of just a lack of awareness."

Rob Williams, a managing director of financial planning at Charles Schwab, said millennials have more access to information and ways to invest than their baby boomer counterparts. A recent survey from Schwab found that millennials started investing at 25 on average, compared with 35 for boomers. (Gen Z is getting into the game even sooner, at 19.) Despite the head start, millennials still bear the scars of their early years. They're slightly less confident than baby boomers in their investing strategies, and they're less assured about reaching their financial goals compared with older generations.

Sure, millennials may have built up a decent nest egg for themselves, but if there's one trope that defines the avocado-toast generation, it's that they will never, ever own a home. It's certainly true that the 2008 crash and the pandemic-era frenzy put many members of the generation behind the eight ball: The homeownership rate for people under 35 is lower for millennials than it was for boomers and Gen Xers at the same age, noted Jessica Lautz, the deputy chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, citing Census Bureau data. But the situation is also more complicated. The tough early road put millennials behind baby boomers in terms of homeownership, but some are getting to where they want to be. Millennials aren't so much nonmovers as they are slow movers.

As of 2022, over half of millennials were homeowners. Daryl Fairweather, the chief economist at Redfin, told me millennials are pretty close to where Gen X was at their age, and they're closing the gap with boomers, too, even if they're still behind by five to 10 years.

"The baby boomer homeownership rate started to plateau when baby boomers reached the age of late 40s, early 50s. So I think that by the time the oldest millennials are in their late 40s, early 50s, that's probably when they're going to be much closer to baby boomers," Fairweather said. Boomers have been slow to downsize and give up their homes, but that will shift, too, she added, meaning more inventory on the market for younger generations.

It's not necessarily a question of no buying — it's a question of postponed buying. The median age of first-time homebuyers has reached a record high of 38 years old, the NAR says. Back in the '80s, people were buying their first homes in their late 20s. Millennials aren't locked out of the housing market forever; they're just not getting there until middle age.

I know what you might be thinking, or, at least, what I was thinking while going through a lot of this data: Not all millennials are floating through life hunky-dory, on track to catch up with their parents. As with many things in American society, the experiences of millennials are profoundly unequal, said Rob Gruijters, a sociologist at the University of Bristol who has studied the wealth gap among US millennials. Looking at medians and averages can paper over significant divisions within the generation. While wealthy millennials are doing better than their boomer parents, poorer millennials are doing worse.

"There's huge variation in wealth within generations, far more than there is between generations," he said. "Overall distribution of wealth has become more unequal within generations and also across the board."

Much like our quirks and go-to phrases, a lot of the disparity between millennials is influenced by how our boomer parents did, wealth- and incomewise. There's a high correlation between your wealth and occupation and those of your parents, Gruijters said, and in the case of wealth, it's often a matter of direct transmission in the forms of gifts and inheritance. "If your parents are wealthy, he said, "then you're also quite likely to be wealthy." Aging into your parents may be good, in that Mom and Dad have a house and inheritance to pass on to you, or bad, in that they basically tell you, "You're on your own, good luck."

On housing, Redfin's Fairweather told me that where your parents live and who they are have a big effect on millennials' experiences. Housing prices in coastal cities are a lot higher than they are in the middle of the country, thanks to differences in land costs, population density, and availability. So millennials attempting to keep up with their parents who tried their hands in larger urban areas may have a harder time keeping pace. If you're a 30-something making $150,000 a year, buying a home in San Francisco probably feels a lot more out of reach than it does in, say, Janesville, Wisconsin.

"There is a big trade-off millennials have to face," Fairweather said. "Can they really make it in the city or go somewhere more affordable and not have that city lifestyle?"

In other words, it may not be that all the millennials headed to the suburbs want to be there, but in some cases, they feel like they have no choice but to exit urban centers and swallow a longer commute in the process.

"The plurality are moving to the suburbs, but that's where the housing stock is," Lautz said. Some of it has to do with having school-age kids, for example, but a lot has to do with affordability and availability.

Redfin says Black millennials are half as likely to own a home as white millennials, which tracks with the experience of their boomer parents. But while the older generation has since caught up somewhat, it's not clear whether millennials will make the same (still short) strides. It's a case of one generation's wealth seeding the next generation in a country where a significant racial wealth gap exists.

"With homeownership becoming so unaffordable, it's widening that inequality gap by race and, obviously, by wealth as well," Fairweather said.

People buying their first homes have "substantially higher" incomes nowadays than in the past, Lautz said. "We also know that they're more likely to use stocks, they're more likely to use 401(k)s or cryptocurrency for their down payments," she said. "So that would indicate not only a higher income but a wealthier first-time homebuyer who can get into the market."

There are a lot of awkward parts to aging. You lose your cool factor. Your body starts to show more wear and tear. You realize the adult in the room is supposed to be you. It also means you start to think about your parents differently — what they achieved, what they didn't, what they were right (and wrong) about all along.

It can be uncomfortable to admit that you see more of your parents in yourself than you'd like. As much as millennials were supposed to be minimalists, they're loading up on stuff just as much as their stuff-loving predecessors. Politically, just like generations past, many are moving to the right as they age. They may have been reluctant to get married and have kids, but they're still hitting those milestones eventually.

Victoria Lamson, a 37-year-old who works in public relations and lives in San Francisco, acknowledges she was set up for success, generationally — her parents own a business, and they've instilled in her a lot of their traditional values around getting married and buying a home. Like many millennials, she wants to parent her children differently. She and her husband are also trying to travel more now instead of saving all their money for when they retire. Still, she knows her lifestyle isn't really a departure. When her children ask questions, she tries not to give the "because I said so" her parents gave her, but sometimes, she just can't stop herself. "There are definitely the moments that I have said that," she said.

While a lot of millennials may be turning into their boomer parents — just look at those Progressive commercials about it — it is, perhaps, hitting different. In modern history, younger generations have outdone their predecessors, the proverbial idea that you'd end up better off than your parents. But if they bought a home young, went to college, and had solid careers, it's hard to outdo that. Even matching it may feel like falling short.

Millennials are also weighed down by a pervasive sense of precarity. They remember 9/11, and they saw the economic bottom fall out during the Great Recession. They're also facing an uncertain future for government programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and the real winners in the economy are increasingly concentrated at the top.

"Even if they were in some ways keeping up with where they should have been had nothing changed in the economy, the massive fiscal gap that the country's facing is going to land on their heads as they reach retirement," Laurence Kotlikoff, a professor of economics at Boston University, said.

Maybe it will get figured out. Maybe it won't. Millennials' experience tells them to have some concerns.

The good news for millennials, on average, is that they are generally turning out OK, despite the headlines a decade ago proclaiming that lattes would doom them to eternal squalor. The bad news is that OK does not always feel great, especially in a culture where the expectation is you're constantly striving to do more and better.

For many people, there is something at least a bit charming in recognizing their parents in themselves. Millennials' kids are now rolling their eyes when songs from the 2000s come on in the car, just as millennials did when the boomers played their '70s hits. They understand why Mom was always turning the heat down, or why Dad insisted it was very important they know how to change a tire. As much as they complain about boomers being hoarders, they're now staring down their own stack of two-decade-old high school yearbooks.

Millennials aren't the lost generation after all. They're boomers 2.0, with a side of avocado toast.

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

• Sam Altman's basic-income study showed recipients valued work more after getting monthly payments.
• The finding challenges arguments against such programs that say a basic income discourages work.
• Participants got $1,000 a month for three years, making it one of the largest studies of its kind.

New findings from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's basic-income study found that recipients valued work more after receiving no-strings-attached recurring monthly payments, challenging a long-held argument against such programs.

Altman's basic-income study, which published initial findings in July, was one of the largest of its kind. It gave low-income participants $1,000 a month for three years to spend however they wanted.

Participants reported significant reductions in stress, mental distress, and food insecurity during the first year, though those effects faded by the second and third years of the program.

"Cash alone cannot address challenges such as chronic health conditions, lack of childcare, or the high cost of housing," the first report in July said.

In its new paper, researchers studied the effect the payments had on recipients' political views and participation, as well as their attitudes toward work.

They found little to no change in their politics, including their views on a broader cash program.

"It's sort of fascinating, and it underscores the kind of durability of people's political views that lots of people who felt kind of mildly supportive of programs like this before, they stay mildly supportive; people who were opposed, they stay opposed," David Broockman, coauthor of the study, told Business Insider.

Universal basic income has become a flashy idea in the tech industry, as leaders like Altman and newly minted government efficiency chief Elon Musk see it as a way to mitigate AI's potential impact on jobs.

Still, enacting universal basic income as a political policy is a heavy lift, so several cities and states have experimented with small-scale guaranteed basic incomes instead. These programs provide cash payments without restrictions to select low-income or vulnerable populations.

Data from dozens of these smaller programs have found that cash payments can help alleviate homelessness, unemployment, and food insecurity — though results still stress the need for local and state governments to invest in social services and housing infrastructure.

Critics say basic income programs — whether guaranteed or universal — won't be effective because they encourage laziness and discourage work.

However, OpenResearch director Elizabeth Rhodes told BI that the study participants showed a "greater sense of the intrinsic value of work."

Rhodes said researchers saw a strong belief among participants that work should be required to receive government support through programs like Medicaid or a hypothetical future unconditional cash program. The study did show a slight increase in unemployment among recipients, but Rhodes said that overall attitudes toward working remained the same.

"It is interesting that it is not like a change in the value of work," Rhodes said. "If anything, they value work more. And that is reflected. People are more likely to be searching for a job. They're more likely to have applied for jobs."

Broockman said the study's results can offer insights into how future basic income programs can be successful. Visibility and transparency will be key if basic income is tried as government policy because the government often spends money in ways that "people don't realize is government spending," Broockman said.

"Classic examples are things like the mortgage interest tax deduction, which is a huge break on taxes, a huge transfer to people with mortgages. A lot of people don't think of that as a government benefit they're getting, even though it's one of the biggest government benefits in the federal budget," Broockman said. "Insofar as a policy like this ever would be tried, trying to administer it in a way that is visible to people is really important."

Broockman added that the study's results don't necessarily confirm the fears or hopes expressed by skeptics or supporters of a basic income on either side of the aisle.

Conservative lawmakers in places like Texas, South Dakota, and Iowa have moved to block basic income programs, with much of the opposition coming from fears of creeping "socialism."

"For liberals, for example, a liberal hope and a conservative fear might be, people get this transfer, and then all of a sudden it transforms them into supporting much bigger redistribution, and we just don't find that," Broockman said.

Broockman said that many participants in the program would make comments like "Well, I used it well, but I think other people would waste it."

One hope from conservatives would be that once people become more economically stable, they could become more economically conservative, but Broockman said the study results do not indicate that either.

Broockman said that an unconditional cash program like this "might not change politics or people's political views per se" but that its apolitical nature could possibly "speak well to the political viability of a program like this."

• Guaranteed basic-income programs can help low-income participants afford necessities like rent.
• More than 100 US cities and counties have tried GBI, offering cash for housing and groceries. 
• Despite legislative opposition, basic-income programs remain active across the country.

Basic income gives many participants the financial boost they need to afford necessities.

Shamarra Woods, a 31-year-old Atlanta resident, spent basic income on bills and day care for her toddler.

For Jennette Fisher, 46, $500 a month allowed her to sign a lease for an apartment in a quiet Chicago suburb with her daughter.

"It took such a weight off," Fisher previously told Business Insider. "If I wouldn't have had that money, I don't know what would have happened."

Guaranteed basic income has become an increasingly popular strategy to approach poverty in US cities. More than 100 municipalities have tried the GBI model since 2019, offering low-income participants between $50 and $2,000 a month, no strings attached, for a set time period.

What makes basic income different from traditional social services is the element of choice. Most participants told BI they spent basic income on housing, groceries, transportation, and debt repayment — wherever they needed it the most.

Typically, participants fall below the federal poverty line. Some programs have focused on specific populations, such as new and expecting mothers, households with children, or people experiencing homelessness.

Basic-income pilots have been completed in cities and counties in Alabama, Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana, Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, and Oklahoma, among other states. The Alaska Permanent Fund is similar to UBI, and several countries have basic-income programs.

GBI varies slightly from universal basic income, which also offers participants no-strings-attached cash payments but has no set time period. It's also not limited to participants in a specific demographic or income bracket.

Local and federal leaders continue to weigh the pros and cons of UBI. Basic-income programs have faced legislative opposition from some Republican lawmakers, who say that basic income discourages work.

For example, Iowa passed a ban on GBI in April, and the Arizona House of Representatives voted in February to ban basic income. On April 23, the Texas Supreme Court placed a temporary block on a Houston-area basic income program that the attorney general called "unconstitutional."

Despite these political challenges, basic-income programs remain active across the country. Here's a breakdown of states, listed in alphabetical order, where cash payments are offered to low-income residents.

California

Location: Los Angeles County
Program name: Breathe
Duration: June 2022 to August 2025
Income amount: $1,000 every month for three years
Number of participants: 1,000 low-income households

Location: Los Angeles
Program name: Building Outstanding Opportunities for Students to Thrive (BOOST) program
Duration: fall 2024 to fall 2025
Income amount: $1,000 a month for 12 months
Number of participants: 250 students pursuing health careers in the Los Angeles Community College District

Location: Alameda County
Program: United Way Bay Area's GBI pilot
Duration: November 2024 to spring 2026
Income amount: initial $3,000 payment, then $1,000 a month for the next 12 months, with amounts tapering for the final six months
Number of participants: 100 local families

Location: Long Beach
Program name: Long Beach Pledge
Duration: spring 2024 to spring 2025
Income amount: $500 a month for 12 months
Number of participants: 200 low-income households with children

Location: Mountain View
Program name: Elevate MV
Duration: December 2022 to December 2024
Income amount: $500 a month for 24 months
Number of participants: 166 low-income parents

Location: Sonoma County
Program name: Pathway to Income Equity
Duration: January 2023 to January 2025
Income amount: $500 a month for 24 months
Number of participants: 305 low-income families

Location: Pomona
Program name: City of Pomona Household Universal Grants Pilot Program
Duration: summer 2024 to spring 2026
Income amount: $500 a month for 18 months
Number of participants: 250 low-income families with children under 4 years old

Location: Humboldt County
Program name: Humboldt Income Program
Duration: on a rolling basis, beginning December 2023
Income amount: $920 a month for 18 months
Number of participants: 150 low-income pregnant people

California has seen basic income programs in Stockton, San Francisco, Marin County, Compton, Oakland, Santa Clara, and San Diego. In 2021, California's basic income efforts were granted $35 million for more GBI pilots over five years, and a bill being heard in the California Senate would provide GBI starting in August for students experiencing homelessness.

Colorado

Location: Boulder
Program name: Elevate Boulder
Duration: January 2024 to January 2026
Income amount: $500 a month for two years
Number of participants: 200 low-income households

Beginning in 2022, a basic-income program in Denver gave cash assistance to 800 people experiencing homelessness.

Georgia

Location: Atlanta, southwest Georgia, and College Park
Program name: In Her Hands
Duration: a first pilot from 2022 to 2024 and a second pilot that began in spring 2024
Income amount: average payments of $850 a month over 24 months for the first round
Number of participants: 650 low-income Black women

Illinois

Location: Cook County
Program name: Cook County Promise
Duration: December 2022 to December 2024
Income amount: $500 a month for 24 months
Number of participants: 3,250 low- to moderate-income families

Location: Evanston
Program name: Guaranteed Income Program
Duration: A first round ran from December 2022 to December 2023, and applications for a second round were due in summer 2024.
Income amount: $500 a month for one year
Number of participants: 150 low-income families

Location: statewide
Program name: Empower Parenting with Resources
Duration: fall 2024 to fall 2026
Income amount: monthly payments for a year dependent on each participant's income and local cost of living
Number of participants: 400 families involved in the child-welfare system

Chicago previously ran the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, providing basic income for 5,000 residents, and has set aside $32 million to relaunch the program. OpenAI's cofounder Sam Altman also sponsored a GBI program beginning in 2019 that gave 3,000 Texas and Illinois residents $1,000 a month for three years.

Iowa

Location: Polk, Dallas, and Warren counties
Program name: UpLift — The Central Iowa Basic Income Pilot
Duration: May 2023 to spring 2026
Income amount: $500 a month
Number of participants: 110 low-income households

Louisiana

Location: New Orleans
Program name: Rooted School: $50 Study
Duration: two phases, running from fall 2022 to summer 2024, with funding set aside to expand the program over the next three years
Income amount: $50 a week for the 40-week academic year
Number of participants: 800 New Orleans high-school students

A previous program in Shreveport gave 110 single parents $660 monthly for a year ending in February 2023. The New Orleans Guaranteed Income Program gave 125 young people disconnected from work or school $350 monthly between spring 2022 and spring 2023. A statewide basic-income pilot called the Truth and Reconciliation Project also gave 12 people described by the program as "survivors of police misconduct who did not receive restitution in the courts" $1,000 a month, with payments concluding in October.

Massachusetts

Location: Somerville
Program name: Somerville Guaranteed Basic Income Program
Duration: July 2024 to July 2025
Income amount: $750 a month for 12 months
Number of participants: 200 low-income families

Massachusetts has run basic income programs in Boston, Chelsea, and Cambridge.

Michigan

Location: Ann Arbor
Program name: Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor
Duration: January 2024 to December 2025
Income amount: $528 a month for 24 months
Number of participants: 100 low-income entrepreneurs

Location: Flint
Program name: Rx Kids
Duration: January 2024 to spring 2025
Income amount: $1,500 lump sum, then $500 monthly payments during the first year of a baby's life
Number of participants: 1,200 new and expectant mothers

Minnesota

Location: statewide
Program name: Guaranteed Income for Artists
Duration: initially 18 months, extended to five years in summer 2024
Income amount: $500 month
Number of participants: 75 artists living in rural areas, plus 25 artists set to be added in 2024

St. Paul previously hosted an 18-month program for 150 low-income families, who received $500 a month beginning in fall 2020. A program in Minneapolis gave 200 families $500 a month.

Mississippi

Location: Jackson
Program name: Magnolia Mother's Trust
Duration: 12 months per pilot, ongoing
Income amount: $1,000 a month
Number of participants: over 400 low-income Black mothers since fall 2018

Missouri

Location: St. Louis
Program name: STL Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot
Duration: fall 2023 to spring 2025, with payments temporarily blocked in July by a lawsuit
Income amount: $500 a month for 18 months
Number of participants: 540 low-income families with children

New York

Location: New York City, Rochester, and Buffalo
Program name: The Bridge Project
Duration: June 2021, ongoing
Income amount: up to $1,000 a month for three years
Number of participants: 1,200 low-income mothers

Location: Hudson
Program name: HudsonUp
Duration: five years, with staggered cohorts launched in fall 2020, 2021, and 2023
Income amount: $500 a month for five years
Number of participants: 128 households

A 17-month program in Ulster County that provided basic income to 100 households ended in September 2022. Another program in Ithaca gave a full year of cash payments to unpaid caregivers through May 2023. The nonprofit Creatives Rebuild New York also ran an 18-month basic-income pilot for artists affected by the pandemic, which ended in early 2024.

Oregon

Location: Portland
Program name: Black Resilience Fund
Duration: January 2023 to spring 2026
Income amount: up to $2,000 a month for three years
Number of participants: 25 Black households in Multnomah County

In November, voters opposed Oregon's universal-basic-income proposal to give all state residents $1,600 annually through taxing corporations.

Pennsylvania

Location: Philadelphia
Program name: PHLHousing+
Duration: fall 2022 to spring 2025
Income amount: $89 to $2,079 a month for 30 months, depending on household income
Number of participants: 300 renter households from the Philadelphia Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher or public-housing waitlist

Location: Philadelphia
Program name: Philly Joy Bank
Duration: launched in summer 2024
Income amount: $1,000 a month for 18 months
Number of participants: 250 low-income pregnant people

Texas

Location: San Antonio
Program name: UpTogether San Antonio
Duration: summer 2023 to December 2024
Income amount: $500 a month for 18 months
Number of participants: 25 low-income families

Location: Harris County
Program name: Uplift Harris
Duration: initially scheduled to begin in April 2024, but the Houston-area basic-income program is delayed because of a state Supreme Court ruling
Income amount: $500 a month for 18 months
Number of participants: 1,928 low-income households

An earlier San Antonio program offered $5,108 to 1,000 families over a 25-month period that began in December 2020. The Austin Guaranteed Income Pilot gave its participants $1,000 a month ending in May 2023. Additionally, Altman's GBI program that began in 2019 gave 3,000 Texas and Illinois residents $1,000 a month for three years.

Virginia

Location: Richmond
Program name: Richmond Resilience Initiative
Duration: two-year program beginning October 2020, with staggered cohorts planned through spring 2025
Income amount: $500 a month for 24 months
Number of participants: 94 low-income families with children

Location: Alexandria
Program name: Alexandria Recurring Income for Success and Equity
Duration: spring 2023 to spring 2025
Income amount: $500 a month for 24 months
Number of participants: 170 low-income people

• Hundreds of Los Angeles Community College District students are getting $1,000 monthly for a year.
• It's part of a basic income program for LA students pursuing healthcare careers.
• Los Angeles has embraced guaranteed basic income programs.

Some community college students in Los Angeles are about to get an influx of no-strings-attached payments — just in time for the holidays.

The Los Angeles Community College District is disbursing $3 million in monthly basic income payments to 250 students pursuing health careers. The LACCD said it will provide $1,000 per recipient for 12 months.

The program, called the Building Outstanding Opportunities for Students to Thrive (BOOST) program, will "accelerate and strengthen the credentialing process for young people pursuing careers in the medical field," Gerun Riley, the president of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation — which funded the program — in a press release.

Selected students from four LAACD colleges will get their first payment before Thanksgiving.

Guaranteed basic income programs have popped up all over the country in recent years. They offer specific groups of people, like those with low incomes, new mothers, or, in this case, community college students, a set amount of cash every month for a period of time that they can spend however they want. The programs are the cousin of a universal basic income, which, if ever adopted, would provide all people, regardless of status, a monthly payment.

Los Angeles, in particular, has shown enthusiasm for the programs. The city's Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot, or BIG:LEAP, gave over 3,200 households $1,000 in monthly no-strings-attached cash payments for a year. Participants said their employment situations, food security, and home lives all improved thanks to the support.

Following that program, LA officials are looking at a similar program for survivors of domestic violence and those aging out of the foster care system.