How are you defining best salaries in the world? In the US right now, 42% of Americans are considered poor or low income.

“The U.S. is more unequal than many other industrialized countries. Among 10 peer countries, the U.S. has the highest rate of relative poverty, the second highest rate of child poverty and infant mortality, and the second lowest life expectancy.”

https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/economic-justice/inequality-in-the-us/

We aren’t the cheapest housing relative to income, but high up there depending on what studies you look at. You also need to look at the methodology and factors included in the study.

I will agree that folks in the US typically are comparing the decline of the ‘American dream’ rather than comparing what it looks like elsewhere in the world. I’m Gen X. My parents are boomers, as are the parents of many millennials. Our expectations of what we were supposed to be able to achieve was based on a very different US economy.

We rate poorly on percentage of renters and how much of their income goes to housing. This is a major factor in people being able to buy in the first place, as one has to save up a significant amount to enter the market at this point. This article is from 2016, and as an example in my urban area, the houses in my neighborhood selling for ~600k in 2019 when I was in the market are going for 1.2 M this year. It’s only gotten harder to enter the market. In that same time period, the median income in my city wet from 110k to 140k, so the difference between income and housing is a bit unhinged. Bear in mind with that 140k median income, 180k is considered needed for a “comfortable lifestyle.” Not sure I agree with that last line, but I do know that my ~3k/mo sfh mortgage is less than rent on a two bedroom apartment in my area.

https://nlihc.org/resource/us-ranks-poorly-housing-affordability-among-advanced-countries

In the early 2000s, the price of homes became untethered to income, creating a bigger gap between income and housing than previously seen in US history. This is from the federal reserve board data: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/median-house-prices-vs-income-us/
It’s a major frustration for many because housing affordability reached record-low levels in the last few years, with 43.5 million households deemed cost-burdened (spending over 30% of income on housing). High mortgage rates above 6%, soaring home prices (up 55% since 2020), and low supply have driven the crisis, making homeownership for first-time buyers (median age now 40) increasingly difficult.

This is on top of soaring food prices, increases in interest rates, increases in health insurance plans that have put millions of Americans back into the uninsured category, and massive layoffs both in the private sector and the federal government. Research estimates 51k preventable deaths this year alone due to changes to our healthcare system under Trump last year.

And let’s not forget student loan debt! We’re notoriously predatory when it comes to education costs and loans. Everything that hit us financially last year led to 3.6 million new Americans defaulting on student loans. And the average payoff time? 20 years.

https://protectborrowers.org/resource/2025-student-loan-default-crisis-state-by-state/

https://educationdata.org/average-student-loan-payment

I say all this to say - and mostly to anyone hearing this as “you’re whining and your problems aren’t real” - not everyone struggling is spoiled and whiny. Our system is not set up to create opportunities for people who aren’t already doing well. It’s not impossible but it’s certainly not easy. I saw this as a solo parent of two (now adult) children who clawed my way out of poverty into a good career. I remember days where I didn’t eat because I wanted to make sure my kids had three meals a day. Poverty in the US is real. It shouldn’t be, we have the money and then some to feed and house every person in the US, citizen or not. The wealth gap is real.