Have you lost your spot in the middle class yet? Most Americans do not aspire to become rich and they certainly do not want to be poor. Most of the U.S. population just wants to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle just like their parents did. Unfortunately, there is a huge problem. Since the beginning of this decade, virtually everything has been getting a lot more expensive. So even if your income has been going up, if it hasn’t been going up as fast as the cost of living has you are still falling behind. Chasing “the American Dream” has essentially become like playing a really twisted game of musical chairs. Every single month most Americans are just barely scraping by, and every single month more chairs are being removed from the game. If you still have your seat, you should be very thankful, but I wouldn’t get too comfortable because another major economic downturn is rapidly approaching.
If you are going to live a middle class lifestyle, you have got to have a home.
But homes are now more unaffordable than they have ever been before.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average sales price for a new home in the U.S. was $502,700 as of the second quarter of 2026.
And the national average for a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage is now way over 7 percent.
Who can afford that?
The top 10 percent of all income earners can still afford that, but that is about it.
If you purchased a home prior to the beginning of this current decade, you are in good shape.
But if you are a young adult that is just starting out, you are out of luck.
That is one of the reasons why more than 25 million U.S. adults under the age of 35 are still living with their parents…
A record number of adult children under 35 in the U.S. are moving back in with their parents, either because they can’t afford homes of their own or because they want to save money amid the rising cost of living, according to a recent study.
In 2025, 25.2 million adults under 35 lived at home, according to Realtor.com, which found that the share of adults living with their moms and dads was higher than it was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of these adults moving back in with their parents are employed, but their wages aren’t keeping up with inflation. Among the 25- to 34-year-olds living at home, roughly 7 in 10 have jobs, the online real estate firm found.
A lot of those young adults have no hope of buying a home for the foreseeable future.
This is life in America in 2026.
As our standard of living has eroded, more Americans than ever are living in an RV.
In fact, the number of Americans that are living in an RV has more than doubled since 2021…
About 486,000 people live full time in an RV, which appears to be more than twice as many as in 2021, according to survey data from the RV Industry Association. About a third have children, and a vast majority earn less than $75,000 a year.
Of course a lot of Americans can’t even afford an RV.
I asked Google to give me the total number of Americans that are sleeping in their vehicles, and this is what I was told…
An estimated 1 million to 3 million Americans regularly sleep in a car, van, or RV due to housing affordability and the ongoing housing crisis.
The truth is that it is quite difficult to get a really accurate number because a lot of people that are sleeping in their vehicles don’t like to be counted.
But we can all see that the numbers have been growing.
In fact, some major cities now have vast parking lots where people that sleep in their vehicles can rest safely at night.
We never had such a thing when I was growing up.
Overall, the number of homeless in this country has reached a truly frightening level.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a total of 1,456,923 Americans “were either homeless or living in taxpayer subsidized/funded housing for the homeless” as of the beginning of last year…
- 745,652 individuals were homeless on a single night in January 2025
- 266,320 individuals were living unsheltered on a single night in January 2025
- 1,456,923 individuals were either homeless or living in taxpayer subsidized/funded housing for the homeless
I am sure that when the final numbers for 2026 are released they will be even higher.
Meanwhile, food just continues to become even more expensive and the number of Americans that are going hungry just continues to grow.
According to the Alliance to End Hunger, 47.9 million Americans live in food insecure households…
- 47.9 million people lived in food insecure households.
- This number reflects that 14.4 % of the population, or roughly 1 in 7 people in the U.S. lived in food insecure households.
- 14.1 million children lived in food insecure households.
Those numbers are a bit old, and so I am sure that they are even higher today.
Every time I go to the grocery store, it seems like more prices have been changed.
I know that all of you are noticing the same thing.
Our ability to feed our families is being eviscerated right in front of our eyes.
One recent study found that it now takes a single person in New York City $158,954 a year just to “afford the basics”…
For example, the median household income across New York City in 2025 was $86,900. However, a SmartAsset study found that single New Yorkers needed to make at least $158,954 that year to afford the basics (such as housing, groceries, utilities, and transportation) and cover the costs of a couple of hobbies.
This is one of the reasons why our young adults are so hesitant to get married and have children.
It just costs so much money.
And now the economy is moving in the wrong direction again.
This month, the Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence “fell sharply”…
Consumer sentiment fell sharply in September as an inflation-weary public took a dimmer view on the labor market and the impact higher prices would have on their finances, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.
The board’s Consumer Confidence Index tumbled to 81.9, a decline of 6.7 points and a reading well below the Dow Jones consensus forecast for 89.
Of course this reading is perfectly consistent with other surveys.
Earlier this month, the University of Michigan’s index of consumer confidence fell to the second lowest level ever recorded…
The Conference Board’s reading is in keeping with similar surveys. The University of Michigan’s consumer survey showed sentiment fell 7% in September to its second-lowest reading on record.
The American people hate what is happening to the economy.
Why is that so difficult for “the experts” to comprehend?
Sadly, dissatisfaction with the economy has pushed some Americans toward socialism.
In fact, a recent Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans that have a positive view of socialism has reached an all-time high…
Forty-three percent of Americans now have a positive view of socialism, marking the first time this figure has exceeded 39% in Gallup’s trend since 2010. Socialism still trails capitalism and free enterprise in public favorability but now ranks ahead of big business. Small business remains the clear leader among the five economic concepts tested, with 95% viewing it positively.
Needless to say, socialism is not the answer to anything.
But most Americans perceive that our current system is deeply broken, and that is because it is deeply broken.
We need to return to the basics.
We need to return to the economic values that were embraced by our founders.
Will that ever happen?
We better hope so, because right now the middle class in this country is steadily shrinking.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
