More than half of Latinos in the United States believe the American Dream is dying

For a long time, the American Dream has been a fundamental pillar of immigrant optimism in the United States, especially among Latinos. But after decades of being at the forefront of that dream, it seems that the idea that anyone, regardless of their origin, can achieve success, prosperity, and social mobility through hard work and opportunities in that country is disappearing at a rapid pace. Results published this month in the 2025 Hispanic Sentiment Study conducted by the Nielsen analytics company between March and April show that faith in this ideal has reached its lowest point since the survey began in 2018, with nearly half of Hispanics saying the dream is disappearing or no longer exists.

This decline is due to a combination of economic, social, and institutional factors, especially during Donald Trump’s second term. Rising costs of living, stagnant wages, and financial insecurity have made personal prosperity increasingly difficult to achieve, even despite the community’s growing economic contributions. These pressures, coupled with broader social challenges, have weakened the perception that the American Dream is attainable.

The death of the American Dream?

In 2025, 48.3% of Hispanics said that the American Dream is disappearing. This is a significant increase from 34.9% in 2023 and 30.5% in 2018, indicating an increasingly deep crisis of faith. The number of respondents who feel that the dream is already dead has also increased. That number more than doubled in just two years, from 10.5% in 2023 to 21.9% in 2025.

At the same time, optimism has crumbled. In 2018, 22.4% of Latinos said the American Dream was “still alive and well.” By 2025, that figure had fallen by more than half to 10.6%. Even the more moderate belief that the dream “is still alive, but not what it used to be” has declined, from 47% in 2018 to 41.1% in 2025.

By age

Although skepticism about the American Dream spans all age groups, younger Latinos remain more optimistic than older people. Among those aged 18 to 24, 11.1% still believe the dream is “alive and well,” the highest proportion among all age groups. In comparison, only 6.7% of those aged 45 to 54 share that view.

Young adults are also less likely to have abandoned the dream entirely. Only 15.2% of those aged 18 to 24 say the American Dream “no longer exists,” compared to 29.7% of those aged 25 to 34 and 25.6% of those aged 45 to 54.

Although overall optimism has declined, younger Hispanics still have some hope, indicating that the dream, though weakened, has not yet died out for the next generation.

By language

Language, which is often an indicator of the experience of immigrants versus that of those born in the United States, also reveals significant differences in perspective. Both Hispanics who are fluent in Spanish and those who are fluent in English have experienced a sharp decline in optimism since 2018, but Spanish speakers continue to maintain a greater attachment to the dream.

In 2018, more than a third (37.2%) of Spanish speakers said the American Dream was “alive and well.” By 2025, that optimism had fallen to just 10.5%, reflecting the overall trend. However, it is important to note that Spanish speakers are less likely to say that the dream has disappeared completely. Only 16.9% now believe that it no longer exists, compared to 22.4% of English speakers.

Spanish speakers are also more inclined to take a middle ground: 48.3% believe the dream is “still alive, but not what it used to be,” compared to 40.3% of English speakers. This suggests that, although immigrants’ optimism has weakened considerably, it remains more resistant to total disillusionment than among Latinos who are fluent in English.

By education

Optimism has fallen across all education levels since 2018, but the data shows that Latinos with higher levels of education are now the most skeptical.

In 2025, 35.4% of people with a four-year college degree said the American Dream no longer existed, along with 26.6% of people with graduate degrees. In contrast, only 16.6% of people with a high school diploma and 21.1% of people with an associate’s degree shared this view.

When combining the most optimistic responses — “alive and kicking” and “still alive, but not what it used to be” — the majority or near majority of the most educated groups still believe the dream is still alive in some form. This figure stands at 55.8% among those with an associate’s degree, 53% among high school graduates, and 48.8% among those with less than a high school education. There is one exception among those with technical or vocational degrees, where combined optimism has fallen to just 39.8%, the lowest of all groups.

A rapid change

Since the Hispanic Sentiment Study began in 2018, belief in the American Dream has shown a steady downward trend. In that first year, only 9.1% of Latinos said the dream no longer existed. In 2023, that figure rose modestly to 10.5%, before more than doubling in just two years. Similarly, those who said the dream was “alive and well” declined steadily, from 22.4% in 2018 to 14.3% in 2023 and 10.6% in 2025.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition