Simple difference in wages vs price of real estate and cost of living.
Thats right. The math is the math regardless of any feelings or believes. They do have a much worse starting put than we baby boomers (okay boomer!). The disparity is real. And I feel their pain as I have kids in their 20s.
However, I was having similar conversation with my middle son, and he was saying how his generation would have huge (yuge, if better for some) college debt that my generation didn't have, he asked me how much was my student loan and I said "about $10K". I understood the point he was trying to make, but then I said "now, while you were out having a lot of fun in high school, driving a VW GTI, working to pay for it, etc, and you got almost no help, besides me, for college.
In high school, I didn't have a car, went to very few parties, but did take every science and math class I could, and spent a lot of time doing extra problem sets to maximize my SAT scores. The results of that was I got a full free ride into Cornell Engineering, and while there I still had to maintain grades to keep the scholarship, had a 10 speed bike (useless in deep snow) and no time to party, play video games, etc. So, if you had done all that, don't you think your college debt would be minimal?"