6 facts that show millennials are going to be OK, even if you think they aren't

Millennial women have progressed when it comes to income earnings. Only 18% of baby boomer women said they make more money than their partner or spouse, while 35% of millennial women reported making more money than their partner or spouse, Business Insider's Liz Knueven reported. That means millennial women are twice as likely as their mothers to earn more than their partners.

However, 25% of the 1,068 survey respondents people who identified as women said that they made more than their spouse or partner, while 75% of those who identified as men said the same. That goes to show the gender pay gap is still in effect; men make more money as they advance in their careers.

Note that the survey did not distinguish between respondents in same-sex and different-sex relationships.

While more than half (51.5%) of millennials said they have credit-card debt, it's not out of the norm. In fact, it's less than the percentage of Gen Xers who have credit-card debt: 54.5%.

And when you narrow the scope of the picture, you'll find that of those millennials who have credit-card debt, the majority don't owe a lot. More than half (54%) said they owed less than $5,000.

Nearly half of millennials (48%) think they have less debt than their peers (17% said they didn't know).

It's likely many are right. As we've seen, of those with credit-card debt, the majority owe less than $5,000. And only about 28% of millennial respondents have a mortgage, so most millennials aren't carrying the debt of homeownership.

Around 28% of millennial respondents have undergrad student-loan debt, meaning the majority aren't faced with this burden. If millennials are reading anything about the student-debt situation, those who don't have it are likely to think they have less debt than the rest of their generation.

More millennials are positive when comparing themselves to their peers — 46% think they're much better or somewhat better off than their peers. That's compared to 37% of millennials who think they're doing worse than their peers (the remaining 17% said they didn't know).

These perceptions might be because millennials are reading their own press about their generation's financial woes — like how they're suffering from stagnant wages, struggling to afford staples like housing, and dealing with staggering student-loan debt.

If millennials are overall thinking they're doing better than their peers, the situation on the ground may be better than we believe. Though things may be rough for the generation, the fundamentals may not be as bad as the story they're told.

The percentage of millennials who think they're financially worse off than their peers (37%) is also notable because it's lower than the percentage of Gen X who think they're financially worse off than their peers — 43%.

And when asked how they would rate their financial health, slightly more than 41% of Gen X said it's not very good or not good at all. That's worse than millennials, 37% of whom said the same.

While millennials may face some financial problems specific to their generation, they may not be doing as poorly as it seems — at least compared to Gen X.