The United States is facing a housing crisis: Affordable housing is inadequate, while luxury homes abound, and homelessness remains a persistent problem.

Despite this, popular culture and the housing industry market happiness as living with both more space and more amenities .

Big houses are advertized as a reward for hard work and diligence, turning housing from a basic necessity into a luxury.

This is reflected in our homes.

The average single family home built in the United States before 1970 was less than 1,500 square feet in size.

By 2016, the average size of a new, single-family home was 2,422 square feet.

What's more, homes built in the 2000s were more likely than earlier models to have more of all types of spaces: bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, recreation rooms and garages.

There are consequences of living big.

As middle-class houses have grown larger, two things have happened.

First, large houses take time to maintain, so cleaners and other low-wage service workers are required to keep these houses in order.