Skyrocketing costs and changing economic trends could make these 10 things inaccessible for middle-class families.
Starter homes and homeownership
Attaining the goal of owning a modest starter home is slipping out of reach for many middle-class households. Spiraling home prices reaching record levels, high mortgage rates, and institutional investors scooping up single-family inventory have resulted in a serious supply crunch.
With down payments and monthly mortgage payments both on the rise, there are fewer middle-class buyers able to transition from renting to owning.
Higher education for their children
A college degree is still seen as the most traditional way to gain upward economic mobility. However, tuition and cost of living are rising far more quickly than middle-class salaries.
Public universities are cutting back on subsidies, while private universities raise tuition yearly. Families are left with either taking on decades’ worth of student loan debt or skipping college altogether and going to trade schools and community colleges or directly entering the workforce.
New automobiles
Average new vehicle prices have soared because of supply chain issues, expensive new electric vehicle technology, and carmakers focusing on higher-margin luxury vehicles.
With auto loans now often being over a few hundred dollars per month and insurance rates climbing with the inflated prices of new cars, purchasing a new vehicle is becoming less of a middle-class investment and more of a luxury.
Comprehensive healthcare and out-of-pocket medical expenses
Even for those families who have access to health insurance through their employer, higher premiums, rising deductibles, and skyrocketing prescription drug prices are taking up a bigger percentage of their paycheck.
Many middle-class families are forced to go without needed medical care or go into debt to cover unforeseen emergencies, specialized care or routine dental and vision expenses.
Quality childcare and early childhood education
Childcare for infants and toddlers costs more than college tuition in many areas. With the end of federal relief funds and widespread daycare worker shortages, childcare can take upwards of one-third of an average family’s disposable income.
Parents, especially moms, in the middle class are choosing to cut back on work hours or leave the workforce altogether.
Comprehensive long-term elder care
With population growing older every day, the price of assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and professional in-home care continues to skyrocket.
Traditional health insurance and Medicare do not cover non-medical long-term care, so middle-class adults are facing the burden of both saving for their own retirement and depleting their savings to cover the cost of their parents’ care.
Private insurance coverage (home and auto)
Risks associated with climate change, severe weather, and skyrocketing repair costs are pushing property and casualty insurers to significantly increase premiums or abandon markets.
Homeowners and drivers are finding that insurance premiums are an unstable, uncertain expense now comparable to taxes on a house or payment on a car loan, making it harder to protect assets.
Annual family vacations
The old-fashioned summer vacation or holiday spanning multiple days away from home is coming under serious compression as skyrocketing inflation permeates every aspect of the travel industry.
Rising hotel prices, airfare, rental cars and restaurant tabs are causing people to choose staycations, road trips closer to home or skip vacations altogether as their disposable income dwindles.
Fresh, high-quality organic groceries
Although food staples are available, there is a developing gap between inexpensive, processed foods and whole, organic foods. Periodic droughts, changes in crop production, transport inflation, and corporate mergers are turning fresh meat, wild seafood, and organic fruits and vegetables into luxury goods. Middle-class consumers are having to sacrifice food preferences to stretch their weekly food budgets.
A comfortable, full-term retirement
Cutting pension programs and moving to worker-funded retirement programs (i.e., 401(k)s) has shifted responsibility for one’s retirement entirely on individuals.
Inflation on the cost of living is chipping away at monthly savings. There are fewer middle-class employees who can afford to put away millions of dollars needed to retire comfortably for 20-30 years after working their whole life. Many people are choosing not to retire at all.
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