The man and his wife were unable to afford a livable house in their area with $120k earnings and 7 years of savings.<\/p>\n
Joe posted a video showing the only house he and his wife could afford in their area with a combined salary of $120,000\u00a0a year, good credit, and $40,000\u00a0saved for a down payment. The house looked to be in extremely poor condition. The exterior was in shambles and covered with dirt.<\/p>\n
Joe described how he and his wife spent seven years \u201cstruggling and sacrificing\u201d to reach a point where they were no longer living paycheck to paycheck and could save for a house for themselves and their two children.<\/p>\n
While older generations\u00a0might suggest getting a degree or learning a trade, it’s simply not as easy to afford a house now as it was when they were younger. When Joe\u2019s parents were in their early twenties, they each worked a job that paid just over minimum wage at the time and were able to afford a house that would cost around $600,000\u00a0today. In his TikTok, Joe highlighted the extreme cost of housing today, asking older generations who might suggest just working harder, \u201cIs that how it always was? Did you always have to be a doctor, a lawyer, an architect, an engineer, to get a livable house?\u201d<\/p>\n
RELATED: Gen Z Can\u2019t Afford To Move Out Of Their Parents\u2019 House, & An Economist Says That\u2019s Bad News For Everyone<\/a><\/p>\n Plenty of commenters sympathized with the man’s experience.<\/p>\n The video sparked thousands of comments, with many people sharing Joe\u2019s feelings about current living costs. One user\u00a0commented that \u201cAnyone working full time should be able to afford a modest home, car, clothes & food\u2026 at the least. It\u2019s gone too far.\u201d<\/p>\n While some suggested the family move to a cheaper location, others said this wouldn\u2019t necessarily be an easy solution.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople say move but don\u2019t realize you can\u2019t take that work income with you,\u201d one person said.\u00a0Other users\u00a0pointed out that moving can mean leaving friends, family, and community behind, and that people shouldn\u2019t be forced to uproot their lives to buy a house.<\/p>\n RELATED: Gen Z Lottery Winner Chooses $1000 A Week For Life Over $1 Million Lump Sum So She Can Buy A House<\/a><\/p>\n Housing costs have exploded over the past few decades.<\/p>\n According to a CNBC report<\/a>,\u00a0housing costs have\u00a0risen dramatically over the past 50 years, at rates that have rapidly outpaced inflation. In 1970, the median cost of a house in the U.S. was $17,000, which correlates to about\u00a0$142,012.22<\/a> in 2026 dollars. The National Association of Realtors<\/a> now lists the median cost of a house as $409,200\u00a0on its website.<\/p>\n The age at which people are buying homes has also been on the rise. Another report from CNBC<\/a> cites data from The\u00a0NAR, which reported that the age of a typical home buyer in 1981 was between the ages of 25 and 34. In 2025,\u00a0 the average home buyer age was 40,<\/a> the highest ever recorded.\u00a0<\/p>\n While plenty of Americans would like to buy a home someday, affordability is a huge barrier.<\/a> Between low wages and skyrocketing housing prices, home ownership seems unattainable for many. At the beginning of his TikTok, Joe attributed trends like \u201cquiet quitting,\u201d a term that essentially means doing the absolute bare minimum at work, to high costs of living: \u201cI\u2019m going to show you exactly why the younger generations are quiet quitting, saying careers are dead, nobody wants to work anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"House](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/housing-costs-exploded-last-few-decades.png\" "\\"Man")
Carolyn Franks | Shutterstock<\/p>\n