USA

USA Immigration and the American Dream – Believers and the Non-Believers

15% more Hispanics believe that hard work can get a person ahead as compared to Americans.
Americans and Hispanics share common goals as milestones of the American dream.
The belief in the American dream is reducing as immigrant roots grow distant.

One of the most common reasons people migrate to the USA is for a better standard of living. Working hard to provide for your family and hoping that your children will live more comfortably than you do today – this is the American dream.

A recent survey showed that Hispanics believed more strongly in this dream as compared to Americans. Read on to find out more.

The American dream’ is what most people come to America to make come true. It’s a belief that if you work hard, it will eventually pay off and the generation that follows yours will be more fortunate because of this hard work. Life events such as graduating from college, getting a job, buying a house and raising a family are some of the milestones on the route to attaining this dream.

Living the American Dream: Hispanics vs Americans

As compared to the general public in the USA, Hispanics have a stronger belief in this dream. 77% of all Hispanics surveyed believed that hard work and determination can help a person get ahead in life.

However, only 62% of Americans shared this belief.

When asked to compare their lifestyle with the lifestyle their parents enjoyed at their age, 75% of Hispanics believed that they were much better off while only 56% of Americans believed that they enjoyed a better standard of living as compared to their parents.

On the same note, 72% of Hispanics thought that their children would have a much better standard of living when they grew up. Amongst the Americans, only 4% expected their children to live a better lifestyle than theirs.

Though Hispanics believe in the American dream, they say that achieving this dream isn’t easy. Of the people surveyed, only 51% said that they had achieved this dream. Almost 75% of the said that it is hard for people like them to achieve this dream today.

Goals of the American Dream

Hispanics and Americans share a number of common goals when it comes to the American Dream. ‘Being a good parent’ was the highest priority for over half the Hispanics and Americans surveyed. This was followed closely by ‘being able to provide for the family’.

74% of the Hispanics surveyed worried about being unable to provide for their families. Other life goals for Hispanics included owning a house, having a family and a high paying career.

A little over half the Hispanics interviewed said that they had achieved the American Dream. This was attributed to financial stability, their career, hard work and living in the USA almost equally.

What helped Hispanics fulfill the American Dream?

Financial Stability	Career	Hard Work	Living in the USA
26%	25%	24%	22%

Respondents who had not yet achieved the dream believed that financial stability or owning a home, their careers and education may help them fulfill this dream at a later stage.

What might help Hispanics fulfill the American Dream

Financial Stability	Career	Education
31%	25%	14%

Immigrant Generations and Differences in the Belief in the American Dream

Participants	Much / Somewhat Better	About the Same	Much / Somewhat Worse
Foreign Born Hispanics	79%	8%	9%
Second Generation	71%	12%	14%
Third Generation and Higher	60%	13%	21%

Hispanic immigration in the United States is not something new. About two-thirds of the current Latino population in the USA is made up of people who were born in the USA. The belief in the American Dream is not as strong amongst the US-born Hispanics as compared to the foreign-born Hispanics.

Thus, as the immigrant roots grow more distant, many aspects of the American dream began to fade away. While 80% of foreign-born Hispanics believed that they lived a better life as compared to their parents, only 66% of third-generation Latinos believed that they were better off.