USA Today reports calculations undertaken to establish the cost of living the American Dream. Including living expenses, savings and taxes the total is $130,000 per year in household income for a family of four.
Only 16 million U.S. households — around 1 in 8 — earned that much in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
This $130k figure represents a sort of grand average, splitting the difference between living in low cost areas like Texas or Arkansas and areas like New York or California where taxes and property costs are both very high. And it includes only one car, many households have two or more vehicles. On the other hand:
Many people achieve the dream on much less.
Particularly if they live in rural or other low-cost areas. I have neighbors who seldom buy meat at the market as they eat hunted elk from their freezer year-round.
