The economy has been changing significantly in recent years, whether its recovery from the pandemic or the state of the economy during a presidential election. This affects every student, especially those who are about to enter the real world.
Getting a job is getting harder and harder in this economy – so is buying homes. According to USA Today, teen unemployment rates have risen to 13.1% in May of 2025.
“I do not feel secure, and I feel like I need my parents with me,” said senior Hannah Talley, who plans to take a gap year after graduating to save up for college. “I’m paying for my own school so like in my head it kind of makes sense to save up and get the money before going, because I don’t want to be stressing about the money afterwards while I’m in school.”
According to NPR, 2025 was the weakest year for job growth since the pandemic. A job market like this alone can make it daunting for young people. In Houston alone, the average home is about $339,990.
“Everything is extremely overpriced these days,” freshman Evie Garrett said.
The prices weren’t always like this. English teacher Christina Knecht-Hutchinson bought her first home in 2014 when the average price of a house was $142,000.
“The housing market has shifted quite a bit over the past 10 years, in positive and negative ways,” Knecht-Hutchinson said.
The supply and demand in Kingwood alone is high. According to JLA realty, real estate in Kingwood has grown 30.5% year-over-year. Knecht-Hutchinson said she saw the economy and housing market start to change in 2022 when interest rates started to rise. Data suggests that prices will drop a little, but a drastic drop is unlikely.
“Oddly enough, my son, who is a Mechanical Engineering major, who has a serious girlfriend who he will likely marry in the next five years, asked me if he could move home after graduation in a year and a half,” Knecht-Hutchinson said. “Obviously, that depends on where he gets a job, but more than myself worrying, he is worried.
“He knows that he wants to buy a home, but that if he moves into a decent apartment he won’t be able to save to buy a home until he is much further down the road in his career. So while I am concerned to an extent, my children are actually more on top of the economy and cost of living than I thought they would be, so they are preparing way in advance for what is to come.”
In high school, students sometimes get an introduction into what they will face after high school. Junior Bishop Scott, who is in the Advanced Quantitative Reasoning class, finds the real-life lessons helpful.
“So far we’ve been taught how to manage credit cards, how to, how much it costs to live in a certain area, how to pay and how to pay it off,” Scott said. “So I think it has helped me prepare.”
Despite economic conditions, a recent article from CNN suggests that young adults are outpacing some of the older generations in buying a home from when they were their age. Nonetheless, with the rapid changes of the economy students should do their own research and be educated on facts.
“In today’s market, be wise about jobs that will become obsolete as the economy and AI change at an ever increasing rate,” Knecht-Hutchinson advised students. “Look into what a specific career’s earning potential is, what advancement in that career looks like based on your experience and education and start planning early.”
