Rent, medical costs and student debt squeeze America's 30-year-olds, leaving marriage, home-buying and children uncertain

Many people think of the United States as a dream country for a better life, good income and financial security. But even there, buying a home, starting a family or having children is becoming steadily harder for many 30-year-olds.

They are struggling under rent, medical expenses, student loans and the rising prices of everyday goods. At the age when they were supposed to be settling their futures, simply getting by has become the big challenge for many. The picture emerged in a New York Times report.

Interviews with about two dozen young people across different parts of New York showed that, for them, the prosperity adult life had promised is far more difficult in reality.

A 30-year-old woman in Queens cut a cake and opened champagne on her birthday. But behind the celebration lay anxiety about the future — she has no adequate savings, and her future security is uncertain.

Another 30-year-old in Manhattan cannot afford the cost of a wedding. A couple living in Brooklyn are debating whether to stay in the city to be near their elderly parents or move somewhere far away. For many like them, personal life decisions are no longer just a matter of choice; they are tied to financial capacity.

For many like Adam Crittenden, a 30-year-old from Manhattan, plans for marriage, children or moving to a bigger home are now uncertain. By his calculation, rent for a two-bedroom home in New York can run up to 6,000 dollars a month, and starting a family amid such costs is hard.

A Harvard Youth Poll survey found that more young Americans fear their financial situation may worsen compared with the previous generation. Many feel they are falling behind; they expected to be financially stable by this age, but in reality many have not reached that position.

Pew Research Center data also shows that most Americans of different ages believe the important milestones of financial success are harder for today's young people to achieve than they were for the previous generation.

Student loans are creating major pressure as well. Even after finishing higher education and getting a job, many cannot build savings while paying off loan instalments. A woman in Manhattan, comparing herself with her mother's generation, said the opportunities the previous generation had are far harder to achieve now.

Fiona Carnes, 31, and her husband are both public school teachers. Even so, they cannot afford to buy or rent a two-bedroom home. They are considering leaving the city and postponing the decision to have children, a situation that has created distress and resentment in them.

Many young professionals are also thinking of leaving New York's expensive life for somewhere else. That is affecting the city's population and school enrolment too; as families leave because of the rising cost of living, local schools face the prospect of falling student numbers.

The frustration of New York's 30-year-olds is influencing politics as well. A section of them have shown interest in the Democratic Socialists of America and in Zohran Mamdani and his supporters. Mamdani, who turned 35 this month, has emphasised the cost of living, rent and ordinary people's financial hardship in New York politics.

Not everyone's experience is the same, however. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, who researches youth and the transition to adult life, believes uncertainty at this age is not unusual. Life's path is not the same for everyone, so the idea that everything must be achieved by the age of 30 also needs to be let go, he argues.

These experiences show that reaching 30 no longer means financial stability or the fulfilment of every personal goal. Under high costs, a housing crisis, medical expenses and debt, decisions such as buying a home, marrying or having children have become matters of long calculation for them — raising questions about the familiar 'American dream' itself.