Achieving the American Dream doesn’t look the way it used to.
Over the years, societal and labor market changes, along with higher prices for everything from health care to higher education, have chipped away at the traditional makeup of the American family, which relied on a singular breadwinner to attain financial security.
For starters, fewer couples are married compared to a generation ago and among married couples, both spouses are more likely to work, according to the Pew Research Center — by choice and necessity.
“We used to be in this golden age where you could own a home, a car, and get by on a single income — that is a bygone era,” Bankrate’s economic analyst Sarah Foster told CNBC.
Today, it often takes two working parents to afford a middle-class lifestyle, studies show. Even six-figure earners in the U.S. said one income feels “nearly impossible” to live on, according to a recent survey by The Harris Poll.
