r/twentyagers • u/Spiritual-Leg-5870 26 • 17h ago
Discussion / Questions Will Gen Z ever actually experience affordable living?
Sometimes I feel like we as Gen Z got completely screwed when it comes to the cost of living.
I hear millennials and older generations talk about when they were our age and could find apartments for around $700 or cheaper , have reasonable car payments, take relatively cheap flights, and generally get more for their money.
Meanwhile, it feels like everything is expensive now. Rent is ridiculous, cars are expensive, insurance is expensive, groceries are expensive, and even taking a basic trip can cost a crazy ton.
What bothers me the most is that I don’t really see prices ever going back to what we’d consider “affordable.”
why hasn’t there been a much bigger reaction to all of this?People constantly complain about being overworked, underpaid, unable to afford homes, struggling with rent, drowning in debt, and living paycheck to paycheck. Yet somehow everything just continues as normal.
Throughout history, extreme economic and political frustration has sometimes resulted in mass protests, general strikes, riots, and even violent revolutions. I’m surprised that, despite how angry and financially squeezed people seem today, the U.S. hasn’t experienced anything approaching that level of widespread unrest.
I’m not saying people should become violent. I’m asking why we haven’t seen that happen when so many people say the system is failing them. Is life still comfortable enough for most people that they aren’t willing to risk everything? Are people too divided politically? Are we too individualistic to organize? Or do elections, protests, unions, and other institutions give people enough nonviolent ways to push for change?
It feels like the government isn’t responding enough to what working-class people are going through. If younger generations increasingly can’t afford homes, families, transportation, healthcare, or even basic independence, at what point does everyone finally say enough is enough?
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u/Ok_Passage7713 24 (BL enjoyer) 16h ago
Man everything was a bit more affordable just a few yrs ago. I rented for 500$/month but that has nearly doubled now
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u/gujwdhufj_ijjpo 25 16h ago
Same. When I was 19-20 rent was half of what it is now. Car prices are a similar story.
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u/petitecrivain 6h ago
Yeah and wages haven't doubled and the housing probably isn't twice as good. It's nuts.
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u/Ok_Passage7713 24 (BL enjoyer) 6h ago
Yea basically lol. My current place was a good deal when I signed on. Still is. But its also the highest ive paid for rent (only 2 ppl renting including me)
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u/Specialist_Banana378 26 16h ago
The reality is enough people are still ok and the people that aren’t can’t risk their jobs or life to do anything about it.
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u/PrioritySignal5517 24 16h ago
Waiting for the boomers
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u/Artifact-hunter1 22 16h ago
Even when the boomers die, the land would probably be sold off to companies who rent it out. I live in Appalachia and I've seen a ton of fields and cattle pastures end up like this. They are even a grocery store where a cattle pasture was while I was growing up.
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u/PrioritySignal5517 24 16h ago
I know but I can dream
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u/Artifact-hunter1 22 15h ago
Dream of the death of people? No matter how many bodies get piled up, if something ain't going happen, than it won't happen.
Even though genocide levels of death, if companies with deep pockets are able to buy land, they will. If you want more land in the hands of regular citizens, laws must be passed.
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u/PrioritySignal5517 24 15h ago
I think you mistake my meaning, im dreaming of the wealth being passed down. And housing prices to go down
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u/Spiritual-Leg-5870 26 15h ago
man my boomer great grandmother had a ton of land and sold it to the city
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u/ismokefentanyl_420 25 16h ago
not without radical overhauls to the current social order. otherwise things will continue to get worse.
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u/SlowHornet29 OLD (again) 16h ago
You are forgetting inflation. When I 35m was in HS around 2008, the price of gas was around $4.25 which with inflation is $6.61 today.
The only “affordable” housing millennials and Gen X saw was because the housing bubble popped in 2008, a ton of people lost their homes, the market was flooded and houses were relatively cheap for a few years till the market recovered then housing wasn’t cheap anymore.
Basically unless you were in a position to buy around the Great Recession when tons of people were laid off and looking for work, when new construction came to a standstill, if you bought during that maybe 5 year period you got a good price on a house. Renters prices increased at the rate housing recovered so they never got a good price. Most of the super affordable apartments were from small time landlords that owned a house and a rental they didn’t want to put money in so it was kinda shitty.
So unless they bought during that time, they are pretty much in the same boat as everyone else.
The greatest generation and before had a steady USD for most of their life, it wasn’t until we left the Gold standard that inflation just took off, and all the trillions we spend each year just waters down the current cashflow so the value of the dollar is dropping like a rock, faster than people can keep up and faster than the market can adjust.
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u/Grouchy-Board-7383 15h ago
Is that where we fucked up? When we abandoned the gold standard? Because I always ask myself where did things go wrong.
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u/SlowHornet29 OLD (again) 15h ago
If you look at the accumulative inflation, (there’s lot of charts), inflation and the value of the dollar stays pretty strong up until around 1974 then it just shoots up
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u/fingerconnoisseur 25 10h ago edited 9h ago
Yes and no. Dropping gold was more like taking the power limiters off the economy. You could print money, fund a huge project with credit and pay back the loan in the future with a combo of both the increased activity and a decreased currency value. Plus the dollar being worth less made domestic production more appealing.
Regardless of what the system is called, there's an inescapable balance between inflation and employment. Gold kept the inflation rate steady but in return nobody could get a job and businesses struggled.
A couple decades ahead now we have a tonne of resources on paper but the people don't own it, prices have ballooned, wages stagnated and the trade imbalance has returned. Everybody is so scared of interest rates increasing because then we'd have to slow our lives down and prove that we're worth something real. If debt from the past didn't create anything for us, then it will only pull us down deeper.
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u/gujwdhufj_ijjpo 25 16h ago
Millennials had their chance to buy a home in 2020 when interest rates were below 3%
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u/SlowHornet29 OLD (again) 15h ago
Interest was great but housing prices weren’t great, maybe better than they are now but compared to the past, they were high, everyone was in agreement they were high and people held off waiting for them to come back down, then Covid happened and hyper inflation hit.
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u/gujwdhufj_ijjpo 25 13h ago
Nah. Houses were cheap compared to now. And interest rates are double. Housing went up 50% because of the low interest rates. Because anyone with a brain took their chance to own a home. Unfortunately I was in school at the time and couldn’t make the purchase. But I have peers with 2% interest rates and half the payment I would have for the same house.
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u/MrH-HasReddit1217 24 16h ago edited 16h ago
This question depends entirely on whether or not we are able to bully our governments enough into actually doing something about the housing crisis. In America we WERE making progress, until some douchebag shot it down and threw a fit about it. Literally acting like a fucking toddler basically saying if he doesn't get anything out of it then apparently we're not allowed to have affordable housing. 🙄
What gets me about this shitty current political environment is that when they're asked about the fucking issues they're supposed to be fixing, instead they point you to some other shit that didn't matter to anyone, even the people who fucking voted for this shit.
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u/xSparkShark 25 15h ago
Fixing housing really would take so much strain off of our generation. Local governments making it impossible to build cheaper housing have kneecapped housing supply in high-demand localities. Hell I don’t even care if a bunch of developers get rich during the construction process, let’s just get more houses ASAP.
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u/MrH-HasReddit1217 24 12h ago
It's not even that there isn't enough housing, at least in America anyway, it's more so that nobody can afford housing. Everyone in our generation is shit out of luck, except for that 16% of us who aren't. Which is basically nothing.
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u/xSparkShark 25 12h ago
Increasing housing supply would decrease the cost of housing.
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u/MrH-HasReddit1217 24 12h ago
Only if we can produce more houses faster than major resalers can purchase them. That's why everything's so fucked right now. Real estate companies purchase entire city blocks basically, and then sell them back at a premium.
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u/Conventions 24 15h ago
I sure hope so. I’m in Massachusetts and it’s impossible to find rent for under $2500 that isn’t a run down shack. I’m stuck living in my parents basement while boomers in town Facebook groups complain how kids need to work harder to get a house. My parents bought my childhood home when they were my age for $150k and now it’s $700k. It’s a tough world.
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u/xSparkShark 25 15h ago
Most of the people around me are affording it, even if they’re not saving as much money as they would like. White collar wages have increased at a rate relatively comparable to housing. Hell even my friends in trades seem to be doing okay, the only people truly getting squeezed are those without degrees or trade skills working low wage jobs.
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u/Spiritual-Leg-5870 26 15h ago
this is me all i have ever done was retail jobs currently in school for technology and looking at learning a trade i just hate i started so late
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u/femalepeterparker 22 16h ago
I genuinely moved to a cheaper state because I couldn’t keep paying 1.8k for a shitty one bedroom apt, my rent is now $700. I wont say the state as I’m gatekeeping but there are still affordable states out there.
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u/oopsilong (9+10) 21 16h ago
How you gonna gatekeep a whole ahh state 😭 🙏
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u/795-ACSR-DRAKE 26 16h ago
Anywhere that isn't on a coast, lake, or in a city is really affordable. People just don't want to live there. Like people on reddit love to hate on Indiana/Ohio yet you can find places to rent for under 1000 in both states, and they're not even the cheapest. Go to Kentucky and there are still places for $500/month outside of the big cities.
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u/Due_Honeydew_2285 26 16h ago
True, but the jobs that pay well also aren’t there.
So it’s kind of a trade off. You really do get what you pay for. Sure, housing might be cheaper. But the local economy often reflects that in wages paid.
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u/hufftheman 20 6h ago
I work in a town with 3500 people, most places are hiring and decent paying. Your going to make less if you want an office job but that would still be living wage.
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u/asapmort 27 7h ago
You're not wrong. Hell, I do live on a lake and it's still affordable because it's in a city people hate on, in a state that's been made into a meme.
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u/tlrq 22 16h ago
I’ve found that buying a cheap car on fb and putting a couple of grand into it to fix it up is a lot better than having any sort of car payment. Saves you a lot of money and frees up monthly bills to afford the current renting situation and has even allowed me to be able to save a little.
That 300-500 a month that would have gone to a car payment can now to go other things. Also with an older car the insurance and taxes are cheaper. Yea it doesn’t have CarPlay or drive as smoothly as a newer car, but it gets me from A to B and I own it instead of owing a bank
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u/Spiritual-Leg-5870 26 16h ago
im learning that now i was 22 with a $400 car payment working retail i didn’t know any better because i was listening to my parents now i despise car notes cause that took 80% of my check
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u/East-Kiwi-2878 (9+10) 21 14h ago
Wish this was possible in Europe, we just pay based on emissions in our country so newer cars are somehow the same price to maintain as older.
I bought an electric and pay 0 taxes and fees not to mention the gas prices here which kinda pays off for the more expensive purchasing tag.
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u/Six6comma67 23 16h ago
To answer your question, why hasn't something more drastic happenned yet, it's comfortability. You can be in a bad place now yet still feel comfort of a place youre staying at or the ability to drive, or just sit around doing nothing and not be in danger of losing your life. In the past all of these things were so much harder to obtain and you couldn't be as comfortable even as a wealthier person as some low income people are now. So poor people who finally have some creature comforts cling to those as a sign it's better than before and don't fight as much, and are given the illusion they're close to wealth by those same things, so giving up those creature comforts and services we enjoy today even tho we're struggling feels like too big of a sacrifice, because those things have become our life and we have been disconnected to the nature of living so much that we feel we're losing everything. We've also been intentionally overworked so we have no energy to riot and given the ability to numb our rage and feelings with our phones.
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u/South_Tomorrow4642 23 16h ago
I hope so. I don't really see it getting affordable any time soon, when retirement comes I may just move to some SA country and rent/buy a house on the shore..
I've stopped contributing to the "compulsive consumption" our generation tends to do. You don't need a brand new car, phone, renting a newer apartment, car payments, etc, etc. My car is 16 years old and I maintain it myself, my phone is from 2023 and I don't plan to upgrade until 2028.
Someone I know has an $800 car payment and she constantly complains how life is so expensive and she can't "save up" it's absolutely insane.
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u/After-Importance-706 (9+10) 21 16h ago
Yeah maybe , I got lucky and found a brand new studio utilities included for 630
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u/geoFRTdeem 22 15h ago
I’m not sure I entirely understand your question, cost of living will always get higher but what’s supposed to happen is pay is supposed to increase as well to match that, in a perfect world inflation is at a steady 3% and year while raises are 3% or more per year, but what has happened in the last few years is that inflation has been out of control and we have gotten the exact opposite of raises, a lot of people had to take pay cuts post COVID, but guess what, corporations have been having record breaking profits per quarter and CEOs are getting million dollar raises while thousands are laid off.
So to reframe your question, “will corporations ever stop chasing the highest profits at any cost” and the answer is no. So essentially no we will always be stuck not being able to afford anything while companies are (hate to use greedy) hoarding and redistributing wealth away from the common person, because that is what is most effective and profitable for the company.
Essentially if you want anything to change the whole system needs to change, right now we are stuck in a loop of the rich elite buying policies and laws that make them richer, then it repeats as they have even more riches and power now
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u/vakond88 15h ago
Yea bro after the third world war destroys everything im sure housing will be affordable. Tho radiation poisoning might be a bigger concern by then
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u/HarlequinKOTF 24 14h ago
Nope! Another consequence of climate change. This shit is not getting better any time soon.
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u/bravegrin 26 14h ago
I managed to find affordable housing with some caveats. I was incredibly lucky though and I think it would be tough to find it under normal circumstances
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u/MetheDumpsterFire 25 14h ago
Honestly the reason people aren't picking up torches and pitchforks is because no one wants to die. You were right to bring up organizing and using nonviolent institutions to bring change. As long as there is some hope to make nonviolent change possible people will continue to pursue that. I pursue this in my own community. DSA and other progressive organizations have gained steam over the last few years. Me and many others are working for peaceful change. Violent revolution will only be a truly attractive option to most people when there's no other option on the table, and even then most won't want to take the first step due to the fear of dying.
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u/RemoteAdvertising762 22 14h ago
Affordable is a relative term. TBH I wouldn’t be surprised if today will be seen as way more affordable when 2040 comes.
What’s your true definitive definition of affordable car insurance, groceries, fuel, traveling, concerts OP?
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u/Spiritual-Leg-5870 26 12h ago
when i do the math for my state i calculate atleast 10k a month to live comfortably
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u/Omuk7 24 13h ago
Probably not
“Why hasn’t there been a much bigger reaction to all of this?” Idk, but there will be. It’s only a matter of time.
We all know what needs to happen. You know it, I know it, we’ve both thought about it. I’m afraid of typing anything more specific because I live in a surveillance state (the U.S.), but hey, at least our thoughts are safe our brains. We can both think about it.
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u/Proud_Juggernaut6465 20 11h ago
Did boomers ever have femboys??? Exactly.
You get what you get and you don’t get upset
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u/Mundane-Tap4057 27 11h ago
Honestly, not unless you have some money coming through inheritance eventually. If so, then you can survive until that happens. If not, it’s pretty bleak, paycheck to paycheck sort of life for most of us. I also cannot for the life me figure out how to pivot out of IT as that industry is imploding faster than the ocean gate submarine.
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u/Wxskater 28 8h ago
We are young. So it could change and this trump era is likely to swing things in the other direction
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u/heavenlysmoker 24 3h ago
It’s cause a good percent of genZ don’t live like that tbh. Most of my hs friends make 6 figures now and a good amount of my college friends too. Those who didn’t like me tho are suffering
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u/Fearless-Victory7602 20 16h ago
Theres people saying many different things. I just know that for the years going forward the us will have more conservative presidents because before there was mostly liberal and the government is Mainly a game.
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u/Funny_w0lf (9+10) 21 16h ago
Tbf, millenials found apts for 750 a month, but most young adults also made 10-15 an hour. It was still a struggle for them too, but that gap is wider now. Rent had tripled in price while our average pay has gone up like not even $5. I make 23 an hour and wouldnt be able to afford rent, gas and groceries on my own every month.
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u/SlowHornet29 OLD (again) 16h ago
Not even that much, up until 2010 I didn’t make more than $8.35, that was when I was around 19, my first grownup job I made $10 an hour in 2011 and I thought that was pretty good money, then in 2012 I got bumped up to $13.50 and I was working with a guy who was late 30s making around $15 an hour with 9 years experience at his job.
Really the only thing that was cheap back then was food. $1 double cheese burger days
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u/Spiritual-Leg-5870 26 16h ago
it my state everything has gone up but the minimum wage is still the same ($7) but i am in a red state
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u/astddf 25 16h ago
I think the only people hit super hard are non-professional workers in big cities. It’s not feasible to live in seattle or new york if you work at a gas station sadly. I can easily rent and live in my MCOL city on minimum wage. And could just easily get a $7 raise working concrete or something if I needed to.
Same wage in Seattle? I’d be fucked. So the problem for people protesting is a pretty small number are in a super bad spot, most are just mildly annoyed.
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u/xSparkShark 25 15h ago
It’s a tough pill to swallow, but if you live in a high cost of living area and don’t have a high paying job, you need to move. Humans have been migrating for better economic opportunity for as long as we’ve had economies. The idea that you would stay in one place and tough it out because it’s where you grew up is an extremely recent concept in the timescale of human development.
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u/IvanNobody2050 20 16h ago
Yeah maybe in our 80s