Gen Z’s new American Dream: Skip the mortgage, book the flight
Source: Fortune ·
Young Americans are trading square footage, new cars and even moving out for plane tickets, even as airfares jump more than 20%.
From the source
Eating out less? Fine. Putting off a haircut? They’ll survive. Living with parents a little longer? Apparently doable. Gen Z is cutting back, but not necessarily to save for the house, car, and family that once defined the American Dream. For many young adults, the thing worth protecting is travel—even as trips get more expensive. Average U.S. travel costs in August were 9% higher than a year earlier, according to NerdWallet’s Travel Price Index, with airfares up 23.4%. Yet nearly 44% of U.S. Gen Z travelers say they frequently or very frequently take spontaneous leisure trips, compared with 25.2% of American travelers overall, according to Future Partners. If travel is getting more expensive but remains a priority, something else has to give. Housing, the centerpiece of the old American Dream, may be where that shift is clearest. Among Gen Z renters, 83% say renting allows them to save for life experiences rather than tie up money in homeownership, according to a January 2025 survey…