14/12/2025
A new report says a single adult with no kids now needs about $106,745 a year before taxes just to “live comfortably” in the United States. And honestly, it explains a lot about why so many people feel stretched thin no matter how hard they work.
Housing alone is becoming impossible for the average person. Rents have jumped nearly 30 percent since 2020. Single-family rentals are up more than 40 percent. The typical apartment is sitting around $1,800 a month, and that’s before you even turn on a light.
Add in groceries, medical care, insurance, and all the other essentials that quietly climb year after year… and it’s no wonder people feel like they’re running in place.
This is one of the reasons I chose the sailboat and van life. Not because it’s glamorous or perfect, but because it gave me a way out of a system that felt designed to keep me stressed and overextended. Living on the water taught me how little I actually need. It gave me a home where the tradeoff for lower expenses was more freedom, more space to breathe, and a life filled with moments I didn’t have to escape from.
You don’t fix this economy by skipping lattes. You fix it by rethinking what “home” can look like, building income streams that aren’t tied to one employer, and giving yourself permission to step outside the script everyone else is following.
The cost of living has changed.
And for many of us, choosing a different path is how we stay afloat.
