The price of a home has increased by 52% from January of 2020 to December of 2024. 

In less than five years, the once-common life aspiration of home ownership has become entirely unrealistic for most Americans. The increase in price has also entirely outpaced both inflation (2.8% as of February 2025) and the average compensation for the American people ($66,622 as of 2025).

This increase in price was largely affected by the massive increase in the price of lumber during the 2019-2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Five years later, even though the price of lumber has decreased slightly, it has not decreased to pre-pandemic levels.

According to the most recent available information, the United States imports 28 billion USD worth of lumber from Canada alone. Canada makes up the largest share of United States lumber imports, with 46% of imported lumber coming from Canadian soil. 

Under the Trump administration’s tariff plan, all imports of these forest products would be taxed an additional 25%, raising prices from 28 billion to 35 billion. This massive increase in the price of lumber will drastically impact the construction industry as a whole and subsequently the price of housing, which will trickle down to the American people.

The lumber industry in the United States is largely governed by government agencies such as the Forest Service, which already allows logging in U.S. national forests. Our president believes that the United States should stop importing lumber and exhaust its own natural resources to lower costs.

Some people may argue that the cost of our natural resources and sustainability as a country is justified, yet it drastically lowers the life expectancy of our country and our planet. It is a known economic fact that the cost of tariffs are picked up by the consumer, leaving the American consumer paying more for goods or decimating their country. 

The institution of a 25% tariff on Canadian lumber would theoretically increase the price of construction and in turn increase the price of housing for the American people considering the price of materials is the largest cost assumed by construction companies.  

These companies will absolutely not assume the difference in price historically, no business has, and why would they? In order to maintain acceptable profit margins, they will raise the price of the product, which does not benefit the business, which now makes the same profit, nor the consumer, who now pays more than ever before. 

The evolution of the American dream has long been a point of contention as the country itself changes. The landscape that each generation has to navigate in order to pursue the American dream has numerous differences. One thing has remained constant though: cutbacks, as the American dream withers with time.

Home ownership and even mortgaging are quickly becoming unrealistic options for the majority of Americans. While the average price of a home is over $320,000, the median household income is around $80,000. For reference, the price of a home in the year 2000 was $100,000, with the median household income being around $42,000. 

The price of a home has increased 223% since 2000, while the median household income has increased 90%. If the price for a home increases faster than the median household income, it becomes more difficult to purchase a house with each passing year. 

The landscape of American financial stability and navigation is completely different than it was for our predecessors.

Instead of our leadership taking strides to nurture the prosperity of we the people, they are actively taking strides to make the issue worse. Logging our own lands is not a solution.

It is a short-term opportunity to profit off of our limited natural resources with detrimental long-term ramifications. 

I find it quite ridiculous that our leadership in every branch has access to this information, yet is complicit in the evisceration of the American dream. President Donald Trump has shown blatant disregard for the average citizen by making decisions at the expense of the people. 

Tax cuts for the rich and tariffs that raise prices for us, “the average consumer”, do nothing to solve any issue America is facing in any capacity. A self-proclaimed meritocracy that prides itself on upward mobility is actively and systematically depriving you of the bare minimum that acts as the foundation on which one can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Home ownership, comfortable living and upward mobility are being stolen from you. The American dream is a withering ideal, and our leadership does not care.