Hidden Costs of the American Dream | Generated by AI
Question: What are some unpopular opinions about studying, working, and living in the USA?
Answer:
Here are some genuinely unpopular (or at least heavily down-voted when expressed online) opinions about the American experience that immigrants, expats, and even some natives frequently share in anonymous forums, private groups, or niche subreddits:
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Higher education is one of the worst consumer products in the world for the price. Many international students and Americans alike feel that most U.S. undergraduate degrees (especially outside the top 30–50 universities) are overpriced liberal-arts experiences that don’t justify $200k–$400k in debt when equivalent or better technical training is available elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.
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The “American Dream” workload is soul-crushing and glorified burnout. 2 weeks of vacation per year, no statutory maternity/paternity leave in many states, and the constant threat of being fired without cause make people envy European or even some Latin American work cultures where 30+ days off and stronger labor protections are normal.
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Healthcare is so bad and expensive that it offsets almost every other advantage. Even with a “good” employer plan, surprise bills, high deductibles, and the fear of losing coverage if you change jobs make many immigrants say they would rather earn 30–40% less in Canada, Australia, or Western Europe and never worry about medical bankruptcy.
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Car dependency destroys quality of life more than people admit. Outside a handful of cities (NYC, Chicago, parts of Boston/SF), you’re forced to own and maintain a car, sit in traffic, and live in sprawled suburbs. Many expats from Europe or Asia find this exhausting and isolating compared to walkable cities with decent public transit.
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Gun culture and school-shooting drills normalize a low-level trauma that foreigners only fully understand after living here a few years. A lot of immigrant parents say they never felt real fear dropping their kids at school until they moved to the U.S.
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Food quality is shockingly poor for a rich country. Seed oils everywhere, oversized portions, excessive sugar, and the difficulty of finding real bread or fresh produce in many areas lead some Europeans and Asians to claim American groceries feel “fake” or chemically altered.
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The social safety net is so thin that one bad event (job loss, illness, divorce) can wipe out a middle-class family, whereas in many developed countries the floor is much higher. This creates a background anxiety that people in Scandinavia, Germany, or even Portugal simply don’t live with.
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“Friendly” Americans are often superficial—you’ll have 50 acquaintances who say “we should grab coffee sometime” but almost no one who will actually help you move or show up when you’re in crisis, unlike tighter (but less outwardly warm) cultures.
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Taxes feel high when you add up federal + state + local + sales + property taxes, yet public services (trains, schools, parks, healthcare) are often worse than in countries with higher headline tax rates.
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Dating and making friends as an adult is brutally hard, especially outside big coastal cities. The combination of car culture, long work hours, and people moving frequently for jobs kills organic social circles.
These opinions are routinely called “ungrateful” or “you just hate America” when voiced publicly, which is exactly why they remain unpopular.
References:
- Reddit – r/expats thread on “What made you leave the US?” (various dates 2023–2025)
- Reddit – r/AmerExit megathreads
- TeamBlind anonymous salary & lifestyle discussions (2024–2025)
- Various Quora answers under “Why did you move back from the USA?” (filtered for non-American authors)