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Part of growing up is realizing that some stories you were told as a kid aren’t real. Fairies typically lose traction by age seven, unicorns turn to fabled legends, and Santa is eventually revealed to be a fraud (apologies to our readers if any of the above is news). But the truth for some things don’t come to light until you’re older—at least for Gen Z and millennials, who are increasingly feeling like the American Dream that was sold to them is also fictitious.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of millennials and 65% of Gen Zers believe they’re “starting further behind financially” than other generations when they were their age, according to a poll of 2,000 adults conducted for USA Today by the Harris Poll. Mostly everyone else agrees; two-thirds of those surveyed thought young adults are facing hardships that other generations didn’t have to tackle. If the American Dream was ever a reality for some, it’s certainly not one that millennials and Gen Z feels they’ve experienced.
“They’re telling us they can’t buy into that American Dream the way that their parents and grandparents thought about it—because it’s not attainable,” Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema told USA Today, adding that there’s “an entire generation that feels like they’re coming of age in sort of this fractured, divisive world.”
The American Dream is baked into the nation’s promise to its citizens. Popularized in the 1930s by historian James Truslow Adams, it’s synonymous with the bootstraps myth and idea that the U.S. is a land of equal economic opportunity and mobility. But, as researchers point out, not everyone starts out at an even playing field depending on their race, gender, and class. And in an economy marked by high inflation, rising wealth inequality, and a shrinking middle class, the American Dream is getting harder to come by. It’s largely not the economy millennials’ and Gen Z’s parents had to deal with at their age (although boomers did live through the Great Inflation of the 1970s), leaving younger generations to swap the white picket fence for an alternative living style or a rented apartment (which is expensive enough itself).
The older cohorts of both generations graduated into ill-timed recessions—the financial crisis and the more short-lived coronavirus recession, respectively—and many of them are also shouldering massive student debt. Housing, one the hallmarks of the American Dream and building wealth, has become an especially elusive Carmen Sandiego figure for them in an overpriced market. After saving up and gaining some financial ground during the early pandemic, some millennials finally entered the housing market only to find themselves priced out by baby boomers who were able to offer all-cash bids. Finding an affordable house can feel like such a maze that 18% of millennials and 12% of Gen Zers think they’ll never own a house, per RedFin.
The USA Today and Harris poll isn’t the first finding of its kind. Nearly half of Americans reported that maintaining a standard of living these days is more difficult than it was for their parents in one study from last year. Even those who are faring well recognize the plight in an economy where a $100,000 salary doesn’t go as far as it once did. SoFi’s CEO said that a worker making low six figures “really struggles to live the American Dream.” And JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon called the dream “frayed,” asserting that the country needs to start paying better wages and addressing the skills gap to ever survive on its last legs.
Under such economic constraints, some young adults find themselves living at home or depending on their parents for financial assistance; many are worried that boomers’ actions will negatively influence their financial future, although a highly anticipated wealth transfer might provide some light at the end of the tunnel. But it might be too late for the American Dream.
