‘Everything Is Going Up’: What 3 Everyday Americans Say It's Really Like Living in This Economy
Four years ago feels like a lifetime in economic terms. Wages stalled, prices surged and the math that used to work — rent, groceries, maybe a little left over — stopped adding up. In a recent press release, the Trump Administration points to job growth and spending as proof we're winning. But ask anyone actually trying to afford rent or fill a cart at the supermarket, and you get a different story: one of strategic eating, side hustles and the creeping anxiety that stability is always one payday away.
MoneyLion talked with three Americans to find out what's really happening. Their stories reveal what the headlines miss.
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Pay Hasn’t Caught Up
At 50, Fatimah had been excited to be offered a full-time job at a social justice nonprofit. Then she learned it paid $19 an hour.
“I got a job paying $20 an hour back in 2000,” said Fatimah, who lives in Pennsylvania. “Um, excuse me? I am being offered less pay when everything costs more?”
Nationally, real average hourly earnings for private-sector workers saw just 0.1% growth over the year through June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And that thin margin does not stretch far at the grocery store.
“Food prices are frighteningly high,” Fatima said. “Every time I go to the grocery store, I am gobsmacked at how you pay more for less. Shrinkflation is so real.”
Fatimah said she now worries more about food waste, stretches meals as far as she can and has stopped buying some former staples, including tinned fish.
Food Becomes a Strategy
For Nate, a 50-year-old Wisconsin resident, the numbers aren't abstract. His side of beef doubled from $2.65 to $5.30 a pound since last fall. Pork jumped from $365 to $425. Fresh produce prices spiked 35%. According to the latest Consumer Price Index data, food-at-home prices rose 2.7% since last July.
To make dinner-table math work, Nate grows most of his vegetables, cans food and calculates hunting and fishing as a cost per meal. A rod, lures and a license can cost about $200 in the first year, he said, which means he needs to catch enough fish to justify the purchase.
“The hunting and fishing licenses break down to a better cost per meal still to this day,” Nate said.
Retirement Isn’t Fixed
Luna, 71, thought moving abroad would stretch her retirement dollars. She was half-right. Living in Mexico with a fixed dollar income sounds smart until the peso weakens and your rent suddenly costs more, even though nothing in town changed.
"We are cutting back because of the peso to dollar as well as inflation," she said.
She and her husband now buy groceries once a month in bulk, cook dried beans, freeze extras and travel mainly to see grandchildren. Moving again is already in the plans.
Priced Out of Moving
Rent of primary residence rose 2.9% nationally over the year through July. For Fatimah, even that modest number is a door slammed shut. Three years after breaking up with her partner, she's still living in the same house because moving out isn't a fresh start. It's a bill she can't afford.
“The runaway costs of rent scare me a lot,” she said. “I know that my current budget (and peace of mind) cannot accommodate uncontrolled housing costs.”
While Fatimah and her former partner live well together, she said the arrangement has left her unsure what it means for her romantic future.
She's exploring building an intentional community with friends not as a lifestyle choice, but as "a social and economic shock buffer" as she ages.
Stability Still Feels Distant
Rising costs are only part of Nate’s calculation. The work meant to cover them has become less predictable, too.
“I have seen more companies cut jobs and hours, leading me to work multiple part-time or short-term contracts,” he said.
For Nate, the ripple effects reach well beyond a paycheck.
“The economy and job market have delayed me relocating,” he said. “I still pay off my credit card once a week as I have for over a decade. I look for any chance I can pick up additional work, nights, weekends, putting off buying land, putting off hunting and fishing trips.”
The Bottom Line
The economy is "recovering." Unemployment is low. Consumer spending is up. These things are true. And somehow, all three of these people are still stretching, cutting and calculating their way through a month.
A recent McKinsey Institute survey that found 60% of Americans named rising costs as the top barrier to getting ahead probably doesn't surprise anyone still paying off groceries on their credit card. The disconnect isn't between rich and poor, or young and old. It's between what economists measure and what people actually live with. And until those two things align, the official narrative of recovery will keep feeling like a punchline to everyone else.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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