The American dream meant upward mobility. Now, it means stability.

Young people's \

For decades “the American dream” meant upward mobility, but many young people today are defining it as simply achieving stability.

To them, securing housing, a stable career, health care, and education are essential steps toward living comfortably according to new research by the Savannah College of Art and Design's applied research studio. However, Gen Z and millennial Americans feel the path to that stability is "steeper and more precarious” than it was for past generations, making the dream feel “outmoded or distant,” the report found.

Financial security, the report says, has become the single most important aspect of the dream for young respondents. 

“Many years ago, the American dream could have been being a movie star and living in a mansion,” said Erin O'Leary, vice president for institutional effectiveness at the college, adding that young people now are “not even dreaming that high.” 

Today, young people face a low-hire job market, prices that keep going up – despite never coming down after inflation hit a 40-year high in 2022 - competition from AI, and a climate of deep political polarization and geopolitical tension. They may not be the first generation to question the promise of the American dream, but it’s no wonder, as one Gen Zer surveyed said, they “think it’s a lot harder than it has been in the past.”