How is life for the average citizen of the USA ?

Hi, I'm a 27 year old male from Australia, I somehow make a good wage in the telecomms industry doing not too much work on a package of 85k + OT + Benefits which includes 10k of superannuation.

Now I love America, had the honor of going there once and given the choice I'd love to work there for a few years given the chance and if I didn't have such a sound job. I count myself very lucky...when I hear about people who have trades in America or jobs that require high end degrees, I am always shocked by how low some of their wages are.

I know USA is a lot cheaper in terms of general groceries, food, cars etc but there is also bigger expenses compared to Aus..like private health care & education is a lot more expensive. From what I've heard..it seems like most general trades people like plumbing, electrical, gas workers and to the lesser extent..plasterers, painters, concreters etc get a fairly raw deal.

Our industry is heavily regulated and those types of work are never carried out by unlicensed people who have not done an apprenticeship, well..occasionally there are plasterers, carpenters etc but in terms of gas/electrical you won't find it happening..and those types of guys earn a killing especially if you can find constant contracting work you could earn anywhere from 80-130k...I've heard about trades people in the states with qualifications making minimum wage and a lot of the work aside from the foreman, is given to labourers.

Most people with degrees earn around the same wage as a solid trades person, unless they happen to run a big business or the degree would be real high end...like some sort of GP, high level engineer or surgeon. I guess after all my bullshit ranting I should probably ask a few questions..

Is the blue collar worker in America generally always on the lower-mid/working class end of the social spectrum ? is university with a shit hot degree generally the most considered option for earning solid money ? Is the American dream of owning a home and being mortgage / loan free an almost impossible pipe dream for a lot of average citizens ?

And are things such as project cars, motorbikes, costly hobbies, overseas holidays, investment properties just way too out of reach for most people ?

When I had visited, not many American citizens could pick the accent which is fine..America has such a deep rich history compared to Australia with a much deeper variety of culture & politics..but I was surprised about how little they knew about our country so I would assume that Americans travelling to Australia isn't a frequent occurrence but here, in Australia it seems like one in every 5 people has been to the states at some point in their lives.