Make America Party Again: How the Cost of Living Killed the Night Out

“A prosperous society parties more. A sad, lonely society parties less,” said former Presidential candidate and Forward Party Founder Andrew Yang.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when partying did not feel like a luxury experience.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, Americans today spend dramatically less time attending or hosting social gatherings than they did two decades ago. The drop is especially steep among young people. Former Presidential candidate and Forward Party Founder Andrew Yang highlighted this in his article “The Death of Partying,” published last summer, noting that young people ages 15 to 24 spend 70 percent less time attending or hosting parties today than they did twenty years ago.

“This makes me sad on any number of levels,” wrote Yang. “What are the causes? Of course screens are a major factor—you used to have to go out to see people or communicate with them. That’s what bars were for. Now, you can sit in your bedroom and like and comment. There are dating apps to meet people. COVID changed our culture these past several years.”

Yang also cites several other factors, including that young people nowadays are less likely to own homes with which to host parties; more likely to have roommates; less likely to drink  alcohol; and, on average, spending more time with pets than with other humans. All of these findings are supported by research. 

The decline of partying in America is often chalked up to the generally-accepted truth that Americans are simply more introverted now, more online, and more anxious. There is obvious truth to that, but it misses the bigger picture. Partying faded because the conditions that made it easy and attractive—financially, socially, structurally—have eroded.

As the cost of living increases and Americans have less disposable income—this being especially true for young people—the process of “going out” has gone from a nicety to an ordeal. Concerts are a good example because they used to be a cornerstone of youth social life. Data compiled by Pollstar and reported by outlets like Hypebot show concert ticket prices rising more than 400% since 1996, far outpacing inflation. 

That’s before fees, travel, drinks, or the unspoken pressure to make the night “worth it” with additional expenses. Worse yet, this data does not even touch upon the increasing frequency of scalping and ultra-expensive concert experiences such as $11,000 Taylor Swift tickets.

At the same time, housing, healthcare, childcare, and education consume a larger share of income than they once did. Roughly 33% of U.S. households are “cost-burdened,” meaning they spend at least 30% of their income on rent or mortgage and utilities—up from around 39 million a decade ago to about 42.5 million in 2024. 

And perhaps it goes without saying, but it is worth the reminder that while costs have climbed, wages haven’t kept pace. Pew Research has documented that “today’s real average wage (that is, the wage after accounting for inflation) has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And what wage gains there have been have mostly flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.”

Consistently, when Americans are surveyed about which categories of discretionary spending they are most willing to cut out of their personal budgets, the top responses are “dining out” and “entertainment.” This proves that when times are tough and finances tighten, partying is the first activity Americans send to the proverbial chopping block. 

“We're too broke to afford going out,” one social media user commented. “A lot of us are just making it by with 40-50 hour work weeks,” said another.

Indeed, the money that used to fund nights out now gets absorbed by rent increases or student loan payments—of which, there is an eye-watering $1.727 trillion according to Federal Reserve data.

Most of the factors mentioned up until this point are economic, but it’s equally true that there are social factors at play. One would be remiss to not mention the COVID-19 lockdowns—not solely because innumerable local and state governments largely forbade mass gatherings and imposed distancing mandates—and in the process caused a quantifiable global spike in social isolation and its associated ailments (e.g. depression, anxiety, dissatisfaction, etc.)—but because major U.S. cities have still not seen social mixing return to pre-COVID levels.

“The lack of activity in my very modestly populated city is palpable on most nights, particularly since COVID,” social media user Dave Hopkins said to Yang. “There are times when I value being alone and just hearing silence. But I know that I must maintain human contact on, at least, a basic level outside of work.”

“I definitely think COVID did a lot of damage socially for a lot of people than they realize,” commented social media user Hannah Wilcox. “It became all too easy to just ‘stay in’.” 

In-house entertainment, including the massive adoption of streaming services and live service gaming, have been major factors in the death of the movie theater. Of course, theaters offer an experience that largely can’t be replicated at home—as do concerts, parties, and other social gatherings—but when date night now averages nearly $60 for two to see a single film, it’s no wonder why couples—and families alike—are opting out.

That example in particular illustrates how social factors and economic factors are inexorably linked. Americans are marrying later than ever before, and fewer are marrying at all. If a couple marries at all, they are on average doing so later in life than their parents. Similarly, birth rates have fallen to historic lows while the average age one becomes a parent has risen to record highs. 

Couples with children can also look forward to increasingly exorbitant costs for child care. The Department of Labor reports that families in many areas spend between 8.9% and 16.0% of their median income on full-day care for just one child, with annual prices reaching as much as $15,600. This has made childcare costs comparable to annual rent in some counties. 

It was once said that half of all marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. That’s actually no longer true—but for a depressing reason: “mostly because Gen Z is too exhausted to get married in the first place.”

And the reason they’re holding off on all of these life milestones isn’t because they’re choosing to delay responsibility and party instead. It’s because the American Dream is slipping further and further out of reach. 

Nothing demonstrates this more dramatically than the state of the nation’s ever-worsening housing crisis. Over the past decade, home prices have climbed far faster than wages, pushing even modest starter homes into territory that used to be reserved for more established buyers. This is particularly apparently in California, where mid-tier homes average around $755,000—or over $1 million in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

“The income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a bottom-tier home and median-tier home in California has increased more quickly since 2020 than median household income. In fact, about 45% of California households would likely qualify for a bottom-tier home mortgage based on their income in 2025, down from about 60% in 2019. For mid-tier homes, only 23% would likely qualify in 2025, down from about 35% in 2019,” said economist Alex Bentz.

Housing market analyst Jeff Ostrowski calls it a “triple whammy of pandemic-elevated home prices, tight inventory in entry-level markets and mortgage rates that are well above pandemic levels.”

The only way that can be reconciled for prospective buyers who feel they cannot commit to the typical 20% down payment is to take on larger monthly costs just to make homeownership a remote possibility. As age is still the number one indicator of wealth, it should come as no surprise that the median age of first-time buyers reached 40 years old, an all-time high. At the same time, the share of first-time buyers in the overall market has plummeted to a historic low of roughly 21% of purchases, down from around 40% in past decades. 

Buying a first home has traditionally coincided with settling into long-term relationships, planning for children, and establishing deep roots in one’s community. When homeownership is out of reach for most Americans under 40, it explains why young people carry larger debts longer, move more frequently, and delay their dreams for partnership, family, and a vibrant social life.

In a strange way, the choice to party is a microcosm for the American Dream. It’s a small-scale version of the promise that if one works, belongs, and sticks around long enough, there would be room to gather, to celebrate, to build something together. 

When either diminishes, it’s not because people have stopped wanting them. It’s because the conditions that once made them attractive and attainable have grown scarcer. 

And if a nation can’t afford to come together, it’s hard to believe they can build much together either.