The American Dream now costs over $150,000 a year

Since the dawn of days in America, the idea for life has been relatively simple. You grow up, go to school, get a job, pay taxes, start a family, and buy a home. For many a decade as well, that has been an attainable goal for people. But in recent years, and especially under the floundering Biden Administration, the cost to reach that reality has grown beyond their means.

New studies show that a household would need to spend over $150,000 a year to live that very dream in 29 of 50 states. Of course, your most liberal states head up the top of the list. Hawaii came in first, followed by California, Massachusetts, Washington, and New Jersey to round out the top five most expensive. The cheapest state to attain that goal is in Mississippi. But even there, it would cost over $109,000 a year, in a state that has major poverty issues.

Under Biden, the problem keeps worsening, with his Bidenomics plan going over like a lead balloon. Economist Hank Lewis says part of the problem has been salaries not keeping up with Bidenflation.

"Especially when you consider that the two of the most important part of the price index are housing and food...and you consider how much those have risen the last six years...it is no wonder it is a fleeting dream," he says.

In the liberal stronghold of California, attaining all you want would cost about $245,000 a year, with Hawaii coming in at $267,000. Hawaii obviously has sky high real estate prices on the ocean, but you get the idea. Compare that to a more Republican place like Florida, where it is $159,000 a year. Still high, but at least somewhat doable.

Some parts of their survey though included paying for one year of college for a kid, which is not how it usually works. So, the average might be higher than what is reported by the survey.

In the great State of Texas, we rank as the 20th least expensive place to live the dream, at about $145,000 a year. While we have a strong economy here to thank for that partially, we get help from the rural areas.

"We have a lot of small towns where cost of living is lower, and people in the cities are fleeing to," he says.

But when you leave the country, and get into the big city, things skyrocket.

"When you get to places like Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio...it is probably pushing around $225,000 a year to achieve that dream realistically," says Lewis.

Now, the American dream is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Plenty have their own ideas of what it is, which varies the cost a bit.

"Some do not want to get married or have kids...or maybe not have a pet...a lot say the normal dream is too burdensome...and they want to find other ways to make it work," he says.

While Biden may well lose in November, the damage has been done. We have awoken from the American dream and are not going back to sleep anytime soon.