Just over half of Americans say the American Dream is currently out of reach for most people, according to CNBC and SurveyMonkey’s new American Dream Pulse survey.
The survey of 4,130 U.S. adults conducted May 6-11 found that about 45% of respondents said the American Dream was achievable for only a few people, and 6% said it was out of reach for everyone.
The term “American Dream” was popularized in the 1930s by historian James Truslow Adams, who called it “a dream of a better, richer, happier life for all citizens of every class.” Elizabeth Suhey, a government professor at American University and author of “Debating the American Dream: How Explaining Inequality Polarizes Politics,” says optimism about it has generally declined over the past few decades.
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Today’s Americans are “less likely than people in past decades to believe that the American economy is a meritocracy, that it is fair, that it provides economic success for the typical hard worker, (and) that low-income people can advance through hard work,” Suhey said.
Roughly four in five survey respondents cited the cost of living as one of the biggest financial hurdles to achieving the American Dream. Three in five people cited housing prices, nearly half cited medical costs, and a similar number cited low wages.
Inflation has slowed from its 2022 highs but remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for 2021 and beyond, leaving gasoline, food and energy prices high for consumers. According to a Marist poll of 1,400 adults conducted in December, 70% of Americans say the cost of living in their area is not very affordable or not at all affordable.
“The American Dream is determined by what you earn and how much it costs,” Suhay says. “All of this adds to the pessimism about whether most Americans will ever be able to achieve the American Dream.”
financial stability and economy
Although everyone has a different definition of the American Dream, the CNBC survey found strong agreement on several elements. 72% of respondents said they need financial security to feel accomplished, followed by owning a home (58%), being happy (54%) and being free to pursue their passions (51%).
Many Americans currently lack a sense of financial security, said Guy Berger, workforce economist in residence at Guild, an employer education benefits platform. “People are very pessimistic about the economy,” he says. The situation is worsened by stagnant employment, especially among young people, he added.
Despite rising unemployment and inflation, “the economy itself is not terrible,” Berger said. Aside from the coronavirus pandemic, “the really bad economic times are far in the rearview mirror,” he said, referring to periods such as the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Inflation of the 1970s.
According to data from a May survey of 1,875 U.S. adults conducted by the investment app Acorns, wealth is more effective at alleviating financial anxiety than high income. And Americans’ definition of a comfortable middle-class lifestyle is increasing, Suhay says.
In the 1950s, that meant owning a “very small house,” perhaps no car, no college, and “rudimentary” health insurance, if any at all, Suhay says. Today, she says, the archetype of middle-class life often includes a bigger house, a car, better health care, and college for their children.
In addition to rising expectations, the uneven concentration of wealth in the United States (the top 1% of households control nearly one-third of the country’s wealth, according to Federal Reserve data) threatens the idea of the American Dream for many people, Suhay said.
Even when people’s definition of the American Dream goes beyond financial success, both experts say a strong financial foundation is often needed first. “Even if your personal American Dream isn’t a financial one, it’s important to have the means and ability to pursue it,” Berger says.
Different visions of American success across political lines
Part of the American Dream is believing that the United States can provide wealth through meritocracy, and the presence of multi-billionaires alongside “the vast majority of Americans who earn far less or much less” can make some people feel like “the American Dream is not real,” Suhay said.
In the CNBC survey, more Republican-leaning respondents (70%) than Democratic-leaning respondents (26%) said the American Dream is within reach for most or all people in the United States today. When asked whether hard work or luck is more important to achieving the American Dream, Republican-leaning respondents were more likely than political respondents to cite hard work, while Democratic-leaning respondents were more likely to cite luck.
In seeking “equality for different kinds of people,” Democrats may focus more on disparities that challenge the idea of a meritocratic economy, Suhay said. The Republican Party’s historically strong ties to businessmen and wealthy Americans underpin the belief that anyone can succeed in the U.S. economy, she added.
“Ideological differences” between Gen Z men and women
The survey revealed a notable gap between Gen Z men and women when it comes to work and lifestyle issues.
Gen Z men were more likely than Gen Z women to say that marriage (43% vs. 33%) and children (46% vs. 30%) are essential to achieving the American Dream. Gen Z women were more likely than Gen Z men to cite other factors as necessary: financial security (77% vs. 69%), freedom to pursue passions (66% vs. 53%), and finding their dream job (50% vs. 36%).
“This is very applicable to the ideological differences between young men and young women in the United States today,” Suhei said.
For all the hurdles respondents cited in pursuing the American Dream, there were some bright spots in the survey. Forty-four percent said they had already achieved the American Dream, while 55% said they were not confident they would eventually achieve it.
“People tend to be more optimistic when they talk about themselves and their future than when they talk about Americans as a whole,” Suhei said.
Correction: The figure on the stratified aggregation of U.S. household wealth has been updated to correct the dollar numbers therein.
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