A New Study Confirms What We Suspected About Affordability...

[BH liberal]

Urban Institute Study Finds Nearly Half of U.S. Households Struggle to Afford Essentials
A new report from the Urban Institute’s American Affordability Tracker shows that about 49% of people in American families do not have the resources to cover the true cost of living. This means that in the current economy, many households cannot afford the essentials needed to live securely in their communities.

Key Findings
49% of U.S. families cannot afford the cost of essentials such as housing, food, child care, health care, and energy.

Since 2017, earnings have grown about 43% nationwide, but home sale prices rose 81% and rents increased 54%.

The lowest-cost Silver health plan on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace has risen 77%, and child care costs have grown dramatically.

Residential electricity costs are now about $40 more per household per month than in 2017, and gas prices have risen by $1.00 per gallon since late February 2026.

Rising costs are not limited to high-cost areas — even previously low-cost regions like parts of Atlanta, Chicago, Louisville, Winston-Salem, Columbus, Nashville, western New York, south-central Wisconsin, and central Florida are seeing housing, health care, and grocery prices rise faster than in other areas.

[Wounded Bear]

1. A link would be nice...nt

[Faux pas]

2. I second that.

[Nevilledog]

3. Here's the study

https://www.urban.org/data-tools/american-affordability-tracker

[Wounded Bear]

4. Thanks...nt

[BH liberal]

5. Thanks for adding the link...

We are now living in a full blown plutocracy and heading toward an oligarchy. The largest economy in the world and half the citizens can't keep their nostrils above water!

[BH liberal]

6. The stat I would like to see next...

is how far in debt those families in the 49% have fallen. Click on the credit card delinquencies by state in the study. Wanna guess the states with the highest percentages of delinquencies?

[Orrex]

7. Probably too much Starbucks and avocado toast

[BH liberal]

8. It ain't a West Coast problem, however...

Washington has to be blamed for spreading the designer coffee addiction and California for avocado this and avocado that. Ask Bill Maher...he knows about the jungle in CA where they are grown.

[Biophilic]

10. Really? Considering the times and you still went there...or were you being sarcastic.

Hard to tell these days.

[oasis]

9. Make Affordability Great Again.

Should be Democrat’s next campaign slogan.

[BH liberal]

13. We certainly need something...

to solve our chronic messaging problems during campaigns. The results of this study should be trumpeted far and wide. A guest on NPR mentioned it today, but I haven't seen any references to it in the MSM.

[oasis]

20. Trump was criticizing the word "affordability" just

a short time ago.

[BH liberal]

24. Trump is giving off the airs...

of a feudal lord. We serfs should feel lucky we have his "protection". After all, he has set up the Trump Accounts which will surely make our children rich someday.

[EarthFirst]

11. Our energy prices in WNY are in lower triple digits in the winter for natural gas delivery...

It’s absolutely insane to begin to understand how much longer they expect us to shoulder these burdens…

[BH liberal]

25. Evidently, they are willing to wait...

until we take to the streets. Or finally start voting en masse to defeat incumbents.

[hibbing]

12. earnings have grown about 43% nationwide

Since 2017? Earnings for who?

[BH liberal]

16. Since that is a countrywide average...

I would say that it's likely the surging upper earners have inflated that number. I am painfully aware that my teacher pension and social security benefits ain't doin' much.

[Haggard Celine]

28. Earnings increased for a lot of people during Covid.

A lot of places couldn't get help so they had to start paying a decent wage. So it was a given that prices would go up some, but these latest increases have me worried. It's not just a thing or two that's more expensive, it's everything, and it's significantly more. It seems like everybody I work with has another job too, and we're all struggling. And things on the horizon don't look promising either. When are we going to be able to get a break from this? Even if the bastard dies tonight, a lot of damage has been done. I guess we'll see how much we can undo. What a difference a decade makes!

[BurnDoubt]

14. What is clear from this study...

is we don’t work anywhere near long or hard enough to live the lavish lifestyles to which we’ve become accustomed.
Our Government has allowed itself to be overtaken by wealthy overlords who will NEVER allow themselves to be lowered to the level where they feel the pinch. Trump has NEVER been in a retail establishment without a camera crew. He’s never payed for anything himself, and doesn’t care how much things cost because he's using other-peoples'-money.
The Oligarchists got together and took the reins and set about eliminating any Power Labor had to be an advocate for the vast majority of Americans who work for a paycheck. If the subject of Labor comes up, it’s in the form of liabilities to the bottom line. That’s what “inflation” is… your paycheck. They will “negotiate” among themselves for the materials they need, but Labor has to take what they grudgingly give to a lone “applicant” who is free to “take the deal” or “take-a-walk”.
Unions went a long way toward building a strong middle class. Guess what happened when they were emasculated?
Conservatives will NEVER understand what an Economy is as long as they think they are the only ones in it.

[BH liberal]

19. My conspiracy theory for today is that...

Trump and his billionaire (and trillionaire) buddies' new interest in adding Greenland and Canada to our realm is to secure "lebensraum" to which locales We, the Serfs will be deported to live in subsistence mode.

[BurnDoubt]

26. And make Babies...

For the Lebensborn.
And they can burn the cripples where nice people don’t have to smell it.
It’s good to have a plan.
You can’t make this shit up.
Somebody already did.
And MY conspiracy Theory is that this is the same lot who tried this ninety years ago and nearly pulled it off. They’ve since tweaked the plan and moved the core of their operation to the US, and have been building the skids since Roosevelt died. I think they’d been grooming the Felon since he was in the Asshole Academy.

[BH liberal]

27. There are far too many similarities to ignore...

The old adage that you can't win an argument if you bring up a Nazi comparison is now out of date. We have no idea how far they will go if we keep electing them and Project 2025 is fully implemented.

[maxsolomon]

15. Are they not investing?

Why don't the poor have stock portfolios that could supplement their incomes?

[BH liberal]

21. Well, Senator Rick Scott had a suggestion last March...

In a March 2026 post on X (formerly Twitter), Scott asked followers to imagine putting $500 into a savings or investment account every month from age 18 to 65. I've never had even an extended family member who could afford to do that.

[Cheezoholic]

17. Yet Ken Martin and the rest of the leadership want to make kids and the internet the number 1 issue

in their first stupid projekt 2029 release from what I read. I'm sorry, this isn't bashing, but if that's sincerely the most important thing to them they gotta go and fast. Saving this country and fighting the money in our politic, which the above supposed #1 issue makes me extremely suspect is filling their pockets too, better be first and foremost or I may be finished. That's not the party I've fought with to save this country for my entire life. I don't get it I really don't.
Sorry, it just enraged me this week.

[BH liberal]

22. Evidently some of our Dem leaders are jealous...

about the GOP having all the irrelevant wedge issues.

[William Seger]

18. At the beginning of the 20th Century, half of Americans lived in subsistence-level poverty

With this economy, and the blatant racism and open corruption of public officials, are we getting great again, or what?

[BH liberal]

23. We now have a White House, Cabinet and Congress full of...

modern-day robber barons and the GOP version of Tammany Hall running the show.