In Pursuit of Progress: Americans' Aspirations for Economic Mobility

The American story has long featured economic mobility, with its promise that people can create a better future for themselves and their families, exercise autonomy over their lives, and experience dignity and belonging. For the more than 130 million households in the United States today, that promise is reflected in everyday aspirations: working hard to create more financial stability for their families, advance in their careers, build community, and invest in the next generation. While achieving this promise continues to be uneven across groups, the belief in the possibility of economic mobility remains at the core of the nation’s most closely held ideals. Yet today, the promised future feels increasingly uncertain. Profound shifts are reshaping the experience of economic mobility. The costs of housing, childcare, healthcare, and education have risen faster than many households’ incomes.1 Technological changes, including the rapid adoption of AI, are reshaping work and creating new questions about the labor market and economy.2 At the same time, wealth has become increasingly concentrated,3 leaving many Americans feeling like they are on diverging economic paths where underlying divides are not new, but have deepened as asset ownership and income gains have become more unevenly distributed.4 Across the United States, families continue to work hard toward their goals but often with a growing sense that the path is less predictable and the margin for error is shrinking. As America navigates these shifts and marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, this moment offers an opportunity to reflect on how American households experience economic mobility today. While economic mobility is often technically measured through outcomes such as income and wealth, a growing body of research recognizes that a better life encompasses more than just economic advancement alone. It also includes factors such as health, belonging, meaningful work, and the ability to shape one’s future (see sidebar “What is economic mobility?”). Understanding how Americans are experiencing economic mobility requires listening, directly, to people and how they define opportunity and progress in their own lives. How people perceive their economic circumstances can influence the decisions they make, the risks they take, the institutions they trust, and how they plan for the future. It can provide early signals of broader economic trends, such as consumer spending, growth, and even inflation.5 If economic growth and economic mobility are to be achieved, society should take seriously how people interpret their circumstances, the tradeoffs they face, and what progress looks like in their daily lives. Doing so can build trust and lead to better policies, programs, and investments that accelerate economic growth and enable upward mobility. Video To better understand how Americans experience economic mobility today, the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility surveyed more than 30,000 American adults across all 50 states, conducted in-depth interviews with dozens of people across the country, and engaged hundreds more via focus groups (see sidebar “About the research”). We captured perspectives across generations, races and ethnicities, genders, income levels, and communities from rural towns to major metropolitan areas. We asked questions across four core dimensions: What are people striving for? What stands in their way? How do they feel about their future? And what can institutions and leaders do to enable greater opportunity? From these lines of inquiry, what emerges is a picture that is at once unifying and deeply nuanced. Despite widespread and well-documented perceptions of polarization, our research finds substantial common ground in what people are striving for.6 That shared foundation is itself a reason to be hopeful; the challenge is making economic mobility a reality for more people.7 At the same time, the barriers people face, the opportunities available to them, and the confidence they have in the future vary meaningfully across life stages, backgrounds, and individual circumstances. Several themes emerge from this research: Americans share more common ground than today’s public discourse often suggests. Across demographic groups and geographies, respondents consistently describe their core aspirations as greater financial security, health, meaningful work, and opportunities for the next generation. The rising cost of living is the defining challenge. Regardless of age, income, race and ethnicity, or geography, respondents identify the rising cost of living as a major barrier to getting ahead, with six in ten respondents citing rising cost of living as a top barrier. Nearly four in ten respondents (39 percent) describe themselves as either financially vulnerable or struggling to meet basic needs. Community connection is a powerful force. Respondents who feel strongly connected to their communities are more than twice as likely to feel they have a say in their lives, more than three times as likely to feel in control of their future, and nearly four times as likely to feel their lives have momentum, even controlling for demographics. The challenge: Only one-third of respondents report feeling this strong sense of connectedness. Place plays a role, but it’s not the whole story. Geography shapes some priorities. For example, when asked to identify the most needed changes, rural respondents select better jobs and healthcare, while urban respondents more often cite affordable housing and safety. Even so, local conditions such as poverty, housing costs, and overall economic dynamism explain relatively little about how people experience mobility. The stronger predictors are individual traits like income, race and ethnicity, and age. This report begins with a view of aspirations, barriers, and outlook. It then examines how these realities play out across key stages of life and what they suggest for leaders seeking to expand opportunity in the years ahead. Responses from more than 30,000 Americans reveal a picture that is remarkably thematically consistent but nuanced. Americans voice many of the same aspirations and concerns, yet their experiences of economic mobility diverge in important ways depending on their circumstances and stage of life. Four insights that emerge most clearly from the research are Americans’ common ground, concern about affordability, and desire for connection, as well as the limited role of geography in explaining variations among responses. Insight 1: Americans share more common ground than today’s public discourse often suggests Other research finds that many Americans perceive the country as deeply divided. For example, 81 percent of Americans polled by NBC News in May and June 2026 say there is more that divides than unites the wealthy and those who aren’t wealthy, and more than a third of Americans say divisiveness has made getting along with friends or family more difficult.8 Nevertheless, our research points to a striking degree of common ground. When we asked what “a better life” looks like in the next three to five years, Americans’ answers converge around a remarkably consistent set of priorities. Across demographic groups and geographies, financial security dominates—cited by nearly two-thirds of respondents—followed by health and well-being, place and environment, and social connection (Exhibit 1). Exhibit 1 We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website. If you would like information about this content we will be happy to work with you. Please email us at: McKinsey_Website_Accessibility@mckinsey.com These aspirations are not abstract. In the near term, financial security translates into an urgent and concrete priority. Even after controlling for income, age, race and ethnicity, gender, education, employment status, and parental status, respondents are nearly two and a half times more likely to rank “earn more income