Susan Wachter is a professor of real estate and finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and in an article published yesterday, she evaluated how the American Dream is faring as the U.S. turns 250 years old.
Prof. Wachter writes that “in the 20th century, the American Dream entailed a familiar sequence: finish school, find a job, get married, buy a home, raise a family … In the 21st century, affordability has taken a turn for the worse—far worse—in the years since 2022. Housing costs for new home buyers have more than doubled. Mortgage rates went from 3% to 6%, and housing prices rose by 40%.
“The result is the Great Postponement—not only of homeownership, but of other key life markers.”
Evidence of this “postponement” can be found across a range of milestones, Prof. Wachter says. According to a June study by Realtor.com, a record 25.2 million adults under 35 were still living with their parents in 2025—nearly one in three. Perhaps more surprising is that the vast majority—70%—were employed, a share that has held steady, meaning co-residency is climbing due to growth in adults with steady jobs rather than those looking for work.
Other milestones are also moving back: The Census Bureau reported in December that the estimated median age at first marriage increased to 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women, up from ages 23.5 and 21.1, respectively, in 1975. Likewise, a 2025 report published in the National Library of Medicine noted the mean age of mothers at first birth increased 0.9 years, from 26.6 in 2016 to 27.5 in 2023.
