2026-04-12 09:14:53 北美东部时区 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者
乔·林恩·肯特 高级商业与科技通讯员
记者乔·林恩·肯特于2023年7月加入哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，担任该台高级商业与科技通讯员。肯特拥有超过15年的报道经验，专注于美国科技与商业的交集领域，以及中国作为全球经济强国的崛起历程。
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珍妮·兰格尔感到束手无策。这位住在亚利桑那州钱德勒市、养育五个孩子的母亲告诉我们，她一直时运不济。“我做了所有该做的事，”她说，“我参过军，上过大学，也一直在工作。但我们还是买不起房。我到底哪里做错了？”
珍妮是一名护士，她的丈夫K.C.是英特尔公司的制造技术人员，两人的工作都相当不错。但她表示，这些收入甚至无法覆盖日常开支：“我们要付大约3000美元的房租，还有各种水电费、车贷、车险，要养活一家人，还要加油。可能剩下的钱刚够买 groceries（食品杂货）、洗漱用品和家居用品。我们为什么过得这么艰难？”
珍妮和K.C.都已年届四十，从未拥有过自己的房子。他们是越来越多自视为“永久租客”的千禧一代中的一员，因为他们根本买不起房。“我现在租的这套房子标价60万美元。以我们的收入，根本负担不起60万美元的房子，你知道的，顶多30万美元还差不多。”
而就算他们能拿出30万美元，能买到的房子也大不了多少。
自2020年新冠疫情暴发以来，美国全国的房价飙升了近50%。如今的房价中位数为41.6万美元。
“我们还面临着高抵押贷款利率，这意味着贷款买房的成本很高，”房地产网站realtor.com的首席经济学家丹妮尔·黑尔说道。而且前提是你能找到符合自己预算的房子。“其中一个原因是，过去十年我们的房屋建设一直不足，”黑尔说，“当供应短缺而需求稳定时，市场的解决方式就是推高房价。”
realtor.com估计，美国的住房缺口达到400万套。自1990年以来，房价上涨了300%，但收入却没有跟上涨幅，仅增长了约一半的幅度。
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
一项realtor.com的调查发现，75%的美国人相信拥有住房的梦想可以实现，但这可能需要背井离乡……前往美国中部地区。
比如堪萨斯州的托皮卡。“这座城市里，美国梦依然有可能实现，”鲍勃·罗斯说道，他是“选择托皮卡”项目的负责人之一，该项目为搬到这座城市的人提供最高1.5万美元的搬迁奖励。
他表示，该项目的参与者来自37个州：“他们意识到，在这里的生活成本对他们而言要划算得多。”
“选择托皮卡”项目由半个百分点的县销售税资助。自2020年启动以来，已有超过200个家庭搬到这座堪萨斯州的首府城市，罗斯表示，其中90%的家庭都留了下来。
观看Greater Topeka Partnership在YouTube上发布的《选择托皮卡》视频
不到两年前，艾莉森和雅各布·雷诺兹还带着刚出生的孩子住在北加州。“我们之前住的地方，平均一套两卧一卫的房子要50万美元，”艾莉森说，“那还差不多是一套需要翻新的房子。没错，要是没有别人的资助，我们根本负担不起。”
巧合的是，艾莉森是土生土长的托皮卡人，她当时正怀着第二个孩子，是一名高中教师。这对夫妇利用了“选择托皮卡”的“回归奖励”计划，该计划为曾经的居民提供5000美元的返乡搬迁补贴。
“我们申请并拿到的补贴完全覆盖了我们的搬家费用，”艾莉森说。
雅各布表示，就算没有补贴，他们可能也会搬回来，“但肯定会让我们的手头紧上一大截。买房的首付几乎会把我们的积蓄掏空。”
他们以17.9万美元的价格买下了一套四居室的房子。他们在托皮卡的每月房贷为1300美元，而他们在加州的房租每月就要1800美元——省下的500美元他们用来支付了育儿费用。
雷诺兹夫妇在30岁出头时就买下了房子，比如今平均40岁才首次购房的人早了不少，这让他们抢占了先机。
realtor.com的丹妮尔·黑尔表示：“如果你能在30岁左右买房，而不是40岁，那么到你50岁时，你的净资产将额外增加10万美元。”
回到亚利桑那州，41岁的珍妮·兰格尔仍在追逐这个梦想。“我不会放弃的，”她说，“目标是在三年内买下一套房子。如果我不得不再找一份护士的兼职工作，那也没关系。……我一定会做到的，因为我要给我的孩子们留下值得骄傲的东西。”
Chasing the American Dream
2026-04-12 09:14:53 EDT / CBS News
By
Jo Ling Kent Senior Business and Technology Correspondent
Journalist Jo Ling Kent joined CBS News in July 2023 as the senior business and technology correspondent for CBS News. Kent has more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of technology and business in the U.S., as well as the emergence of China as a global economic power.
Read Full Bio
Jennie Rangel feels stuck. The mom of five in Chandler, Arizona, tells us she can’t catch a break. “I did everything I was supposed to do,” she said. “I was in the military. I went to college. I worked. And we can’t buy a home. What did I do wrong?
Jennie, a nurse, and her husband, K.C., a manufacturing tech at Intel, have pretty good jobs. But she says they are not even close to covering their living expenses: “We pay about three grand in rent. We have all of the utilities. We have car payments, car insurance, mouths to feed, and gas. Maybe we have enough left over for groceries and toiletries and household stuff. Why are we struggling?”
Jennie and K.C. are both in their forties, and have never owned a home. They’re part of a growing number of Millennials who see themselves as “forever renters,” because they can’t afford to buy. “This home I’m renting goes for $600,000. We can’t afford a $600,000 home, you know, with our income. Maybe $300,000.”
And what they could buy with $300,000 would not be much.
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, home prices across the country have soared nearly 50 percent. Today’s median price: $416,000.
“We are also looking at high mortgage rates, which means it’s expensive to borrow money to buy a home,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com. And that’s if you can find a home in your price range. “One of the reasons is that we haven’t had enough building over the last decade,” Hale said. “And when you have a shortage of supply and a steady amount of demand, the way the market solves that is by pushing prices higher.”
Realtor.com estimates that there is a shortage of four million homes. And while home prices have gone up 300% since 1990, incomes have not kept up, only rising by roughly half that amount.
CBS News
A realtor.com survey found that 75 percent of Americans believe in the dream of home ownership, and it can be done, but it might require pulling up roots … and heading to the heartland.
Like to Topeka, Kansas. “This is a city where the American Dream is still possible,” said Bob Ross, one of the leaders behind “Choose Topeka,” a program offering people a relocation incentive of up to $15,000 to move to town.
He says participants in the program have come from 37 states: “They recognize that the cost of living that they can get here is so much more meaningful to them.”
“Choose Topeka” is funded by a half-cent county sales tax. More than 200 families have moved to the capital city of Kansas since it launched in 2020, and Ross says 90 percent of them have stayed.
Choose Topeka by Greater Topeka Partnership on YouTube
Less than two years ago, Allison and Jacob Reynolds were living in Northern California with a newborn. “On average where we lived, a two bed, one bath house would be $500,000,” Allison said. “That’s, like, kind of a fixer-upper. Yeah, it would have been unfeasible for us financially without support from someone else.”
Turns out Allison, a high school teacher expecting baby #2, is a Topeka native. The couple took advantage of the “Choose Topeka” boomerang incentive, which offers past residents $5,000 to move home.
“The grant incentive that we applied for and received completely covered our moving expenses,” Allison said.
Jacob said they might have made the move without the grant, “but it would have definitely left a hole in our pocket. That down payment on the house kind of emptied us out.”
They purchased their four bedroom home for $179,000. Their monthly mortgage in Topeka is $1,300, compared to $1,800 a month for rent in California – five hundred dollars of savings they put towards childcare.
The Reynoldses bought in their early 30s, beating today’s average 40-year-old first-time homebuyer, and that gives them a head start.
Realtor.com’s Danielle Hale said, “If you can buy a home closer to age 30 versus age 40, that means you have a $100,000 additional net worth boost by the time you turn 50.”
Back in Arizona, 41-year-old Jennie Rangel is still chasing the dream. “I’m not gonna give up,” she said. “The goal is to buy a home in three years. If I have to get a second job as a nurse, then so be it. … I’m gonna do it, because I’m gonna give my kids something to be proud of.”