Has the American Dream Changed? Hometap Hit the Streets to Ask Homeowners

This summer, as the country turned 250, we set out to gain a deeper understanding about how American homeowners define the American Dream, and what has changed about homeownership over the course of its history.

We started with the numbers. In June, we surveyed 1,000 U.S. homeowners and found that they largely still believe in homeownership as an achievement, but their experiences have left them far less sure that the system is actually delivering on what it promised. 81% said it hasn't fully lived up to its role as a cornerstone of the American Dream, and half described the dream today with a word like "eroding" or "broken."

Then we took the question to the streets. Through our “Invested in Homeowners’ Dreams” contest, we talked to homeowners in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami and asked them, on camera, how they were raised to think about owning a home, what’s changed about homeownership for their generation compared to their parents', and how they’d use $25,000 to invest into their homes if they won the contest.

The survey told us what homeowners think, at scale. The interviews told us why, in their own words, with all the nuance a percentage point can't capture. Here's what emerged when we put the two side by side.

Everyone's Rewriting What The Dream Means

Our survey found that most homeowners still feel positively about reaching the milestone: 66.5% describe owning their home as more achievement than obligation, and “stability” remains the word people reach for most, both for their parents' generation and their own. But when asked to choose between “eroding,” “broken,” “enduring,” and “evolving,” to describe the current state of homeownership, it was the latter that won out.

The interviews showed us exactly what that evolution sounds like in practice.

“It was more my own dream. No white picket fence here,” said Michael, a New York homeowner we spoke with. “No big yard, but I felt like I’d accomplished a milestone for my own life.”

That instinct to redefine rather than reject kept surfacing. One Los Angeles homeowner called homeownership a box to check, then caught herself: "but it’s not everybody's American dream." And a homeowner and economist from Santa Barbara didn't hedge at all, arguing that owning a home isn't what separates people who've achieved the American Dream from those who haven't.

Those who believed homeownership is still imperative to the American Dream shared answers that centered on family and legacy rather than the dream as a national promise. For them, homeownership was personal before it was patriotic.

What $25,000 Reveals About What People Actually Value

We asked every homeowner the same hypothetical: what would you do with $25,000 to reinvest in your home? The answers were practical almost across the board, and what people chose said a lot about what home means to them day to day.

Michael would plan a kitchen update and a bathtub renovation, both aimed at making daily life easier and better for his family.

Others decided that deferred maintenance would finally be getting its due. A homeowner in Florida needs a new roof, a fact of life in hurricane country, while homeowners in Los Angeles pointed to bathrooms and additions they'd been putting off for years.

A homeowner in Los Angeles said he'd put the money into his garden, specifically so the people walking by could enjoy it, too.

Notably, almost nobody mentioned resale value. For most, the $25,000 wasn't a portfolio decision. It was a decision to improve their everyday life.

Two Honest Truths About What Homeownership Really Costs

We closed every interview by asking for advice: what would you tell an aspiring or new homeowner that you wish you'd known before you bought a home? The answers were split into two camps.

Camp one: just go for it. A New York homeowner put it simply: don't let perfect be the killer of really good. A homeowner in Southern California said it in three words: follow your gut.

Camp two: know what you're signing up for. A homeowner in New Hampshire underestimated the sheer amount of work ownership takes. A homeowner in Florida keeps a rainy day fund and good insurance on hand, because, as she put it, you never know what's going to happen.

A Dream Still Worth Investing In

Homeowners haven't stopped believing in the value of owning a home. What's shifted is their confidence that the system around it still works, for them and for whoever comes next. It’s important that Hometap understands this shift and the challenges homeowners face.

That's what our “Invested in Homeowners’ Dreams” campaign was built to spotlight. It's also why, alongside winner Michael's $25,000 prize for a kitchen and bathtub renovation his family will use every day, we're donating $25,000 to Rebuilding Together, a national nonprofit that helps people make the repairs that let them safely stay in the homes they already love. Both commitments are steps toward the same goal: showing up for homeowners in real, tangible ways.