At the tail end of 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau released statistical projections and findings based on a five-year, in-depth study on Generation Y, and as the new year gets into full swing news outlets across the board are dissecting that information to support a myriad of attention-grabbing headlines about millennials.

Young Adults: Then and Now is an interactive mapping tool from the Census Bureau that looks at young adults ages 18 to 34 and lets you decide if today’s millennials are that different from previous generations. The application allows users to map 14 different demographic, social, economic and housing characteristics of their state, county, metropolitan/micropolitan statistical area, or census tract, and see how these areas have changed using the 1980, 1990 and 2000 censuses and the 2009 to 2013 ACS five-year estimates.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, millennials are likely the most studied generation to date — and there are plenty of them to study, 80 million plus (the largest cohort size in history) along with plenty of data to find pretty much whatever you are looking for, as the data are varied and sometimes contradictory.

The Guardian reports that one in five millennials are living below the poverty line, influenced by higher unemployment than faced by 18-to-34-year -olds in 1980 and a general millennial problem with finances.

Gawker and the Wall Street Journal report that millennials are “feeling stuck” in the top 10 major U.S. cities much longer than generations past, unable to leave for exurban or suburban home ownership and jobs elsewhere due to exorbitant student debt, lack of jobs elsewhere, particularly troubling among the creative class.

The Washington Post also suggests that, even with an upcoming presidential election cycle looking, millennials still don’t matter much in American politics — the census data shows they’re still less likely to vote than previous generations.

But Bloomberg sees a more promising note among all this muck and mire, in that the “majority minority” future of the millennial generation (50.3 percent minority population by 2044, a first in history) promises a global economic edge for the U.S.

To engage with the Young Adults: Then and Now interactive mapping tool, view the full five-year report, and come to your own conclusions about which way millennials are heading, go to Census.gov.

April Lane is a freelance writer.