AI is rapidly changing the world around us, from the way we engage online to how we work. But while the technology is able to complete an astonishing number of tasks, humans are far from obsolete.
A new report from McKinsey is shining light on why humans are still essential. According to the report, roughly 57% of work hours can be automated. Meanwhile, 70% of the skills employers look for can be used for both automated work and nonautomated work. This means over the next five years, humans will have to adjust their work habits to make room for automation.
McKinsey designed an index to assess how automation will impact each skill used in the workplace today. According to the index, skills like digital and information processing, accounting, and coding are the most likely to be impacted by AI.
Jobs requiring physical activity will see less of an impact, accounting for 35% of U.S. work hours. While robots have made huge strides in their ability to complete physical tasks, they cannot rival the “fine motor skills, dexterity, and situational awareness” of humans, the report says.
Skills that rely on emotional awareness and personal connectionsuch as coaching, assisting, caring, or negotiatingwill see the least amount of impact. The report explains that “even under a full adoption” of AI, emotional skills will remain relevant in many roles.
Currently about 75% of the demand for AI skills falls into one of three categories: computer or mathematical jobs (44%), management roles (19%), and business and financial operations (7%). However, the report goes on to highlight “nearly all occupations have at least one highly disrupted skilldefined as being in the top quartile of change by 2030, and that a third of occupations will see more than 10% of their skills highly changed.”
While many jobs will change, new jobs will also be created where working alongside AI will become essential. In fact, the report says, demand for workers who understand AI is growing faster than any other skill set.
“Workers will spend less time preparing documents and doing basic research, for example, and more time framing questions and interpreting results,” the report says. “Employers may increasingly prize skills that add value to AI.”
Making space for AI in the workplace is key. The tech could unlock around $2.9 trillion in economic value in the U.S. if companies can utilize employees to work together with automation, the report projects. Either way, while humans are still necessary for most jobs, AI will inevitably continue to change how humans workno matter their role.
Just a handful of years ago, the idea of one person creating a company worth over a billion dollars seemed like a pipe dream. Thanks to rapid advancements in AI, the possibility of a solopreneur unicorn is less a matter of “if and more a matter of when.
Earlier this year, OpenAI founder Sam Altman told Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian that his group chat of tech CEO friends have a betting pool for when the world will see a one-person billion-dollar company. Ten months later, some experts suggest that the company could be founded in 2026, if it hasn’t been already, due to rapid advancements in agentic AI.
The ability of a person to scale themselves, to automate their lives, has just become amazing, says Kyle Jensen, the director of entrepreneurship programs, associate dean and professor in the practice of entrepreneurship at Yale School of Management. If you’re very skilled with those tools, you can have the productivity of 10 people.
Jensen adds that solopreneurship has historically been more akin to mom-and-pop-style small business ownership, with practitioners selling goods and services through the internet.
While many solopreneurs still fit that mold, he sees another kind of solopreneur emerging; one that better resembles a high-growth startup, using new tools in lieu of hiring.
There have been a handful of companies that had private market valuations in excess of a billion dollars with very small teamsWhatsApp is a very famous example, he says. What is the probability that you’ll see a solo-entrepreneur who’s like, some engineer from Google, who decided she doesn’t want to do that anymoreand she’s going to do her AI startup from home, and become the first unicorn? I think its a pretty decent probability.
Unicorns are shrinking
The first one-person company to surpass a billion dollars may not be all that far off. In recent years some one-person businesses have achieved smaller, yet still eye-popping valuations. At the same time the record for smallest unicorn company keeps getting broken.
Earlier this year, for example, solopreneur Maor Sholomo sold his AI app-building platform Base44 to website builder Wix for $80 million, just six months after launch.
Instagram had only 13 employees when it was sold to Facebook for a billion dollars in 2012. One of those cofounders, Mike Krieger, went on to found Anthropic in 2021, which was recently valued at $350 billion. Speaking with Fast Company earlier this year, Krieger suggested the one-person unicorn is closer than you think.
It feels like every month were getting closer and closer, says Anthropics Head of Startup Sales, Jamie Neuwirth. Companies that we’re working with, for example, at Y Combinator who are very smallusually two or three peoplethey’re getting to market faster, and that opportunity for them to become a unicorn is very real.
A virtual cofounder
In the recent past, solopreneurs were able to automate certain operations, but it often required a high degree of technical know-how and many hours of building custom tools.
Now, Neuwirth says AI tools like Anthropics AI assistant Claude can serve as a collaborator, taking on more advanced and critical tasks, without requiring founders to have a deep technical background.
I think of AIand Claude in particularas everything from this virtual collaborator to a kind of the chief of staff, but the way I think about it when it comes to solopreneurs is more of your virtual cofounder, he says. You can have a less technical background, and there’s still a lot that can be achieved with these tools.
Where to look for solo unicorns
In recent months, AI companies like Base 44, Anthropic, and Swedish vibe coding app Loveablewhich lets users build apps and websites by describing it in plain languagehave dominated the headlines with eye-popping valuations, but Neuwirth says the first one-person unicorn wont necessarily emerge from the AI field.
Thats because those very solutions are allowing small teams and individuals to build, test, prototype, and ultimately sell technical solutions without deep technical skills.
As the model capabilities get a lot better, I think we’re going to see it come from different industries, he says. To me, it goes back to, where is the need immediate, and the market really big?
One sector Neuwirth believes is ripe for a first solo-unicorn is healthcare, where he says there are lots of legacy practices and processes, and a massive, global market eager for innovation.
Tim Cortinovis, speaker and author of The Single-Handed Unicorn, meanwhile, believes the first one-person billion-dollar company will offer an easy interface to a complicated process, or a simple solution to a universal problem.
If you are able to put in a very easy interface between agents and the tasks at hand in, let’s say, a heavy machinery industry or the energy sector, I think this will solve a massive problem, he says. My advice is, dont try to create the first single-handed unicorn, but try to solve a huge problem. You wont win the game by thinking about winning.
The first solo unicorn may have already been born
Though it may take that solopreneur founder several years to reach a 10-figure valuation, Cortinovis says 2025 will go down as the year that the necessary tools to accomplish such a feat became available.
In other words, it is possible that the first individual who will accomplish that feat has already begun building their business.
In 2025 we reached the capacities of AI agents to accomplish these complicated tasks and orchestration, Cortinovis says, explaining that this year AI broke out of the chatbot box and is now able to work with other tools and apps to complete more complicated tasks, like build apps and websites, manage a marketing campaign, or handle more complicated customer service inquiries. Maybe we will see the first results at the end of ’26 or at the beginning of ’27 and then maybe two years later well get the first real single-handed unicorn on the market with that valuation.
Whenever that one-person company does emerge, Cortinovis says the implications would extend well beyond the individual founder.
I think it opens up the path for more people [to pursue entrepreneurship] because it proves you don#8217;t need an extensive team, you don’t need to start hiring massively to start an enterprise, he says.
It symbolizes a new wave of founders. Even if youre not going after a massive valuation, it will make them more willing to found an enterprise, because it shows how much easier it is with the technology.
For the past 99 years at Macys annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, spectators have craned their necks to watch giant balloons and larger-than-life floats pass through the streets of New York City. But a word to the wise this year: Dont forget to look down. You might just catch a glimpse of the tiniest float in the parades history.
The floatwhich is 49 times smaller than the average displaycomes courtesy of Goldfish, which is returning to the parade for the first time in more than a decade. The floats design features a wintery snowscape covered with frolicking Goldfish crackers towed by an equally tiny Ram truck. According to Brendan Kennedy, director of creative production at Macys Studios, the float measures less than 8 inches tall and 14 inches long. Throughout the parade, it will be circling Herald Square, just outside Macys department store.
[Photo: Goldfish]
Kennedy, who stepped into his role at the helm of the parade in April 2024, says hes been spending quite a bit of time digging through the events history for its upcoming centennial anniversary. In all that research, hes never come across another float quite like this one.
I don’t think this has ever come close to happening, Kennedy says.
[Photo: Goldfish]
Inside Goldfishs return to the parade
Every year, Kennedy says the team at Macys is working around 18 months ahead of time to prepare for the next Thanksgiving parade: ensuring the event will have enough street space, selecting brand partners, and ironing out the production schedule. The floats themselves take anywhere from three to six months to fully plan and design. When Goldfish reached out to Macys with the idea to build what the company is calling the Littlest Float in early September, Kennedy says the team was already in the home stretch of building this years six new floats.
Despite the quick turnaround, he knew they had to make it happen. I got a call from our partnership team, and they said Goldfish has this idea, what do you think? Kennedy says. I was like, Absolutely. I’m in.
Designing a new float always starts with nailing down a solid story, Kennedy says. In this case, the Goldfish and Macys teams pulled inspiration from Snow Day, a Goldfish ad originally released in 2015 that shows a crew of three hat-wearing Goldfish crackers sledding, playing hockey, building snowmen, and warming up by the fire. The floats mock-up included a team of Goldfish enjoying wintery activities in a snowy landscape, topped off by a Goldfish-shaped mound of snow.
The last time Goldfish was in the parade was back in 2012, when the brand debuted a somewhat meta float of Goldfish crackers putting on their own parade. “After more than a decade, returning with the Littlest Float allowed us to show up in a way that feels both true to the brand and meaningful to fans, says Mike Fanelli, the brand’s senior director of marketing.
[Photo: Goldfish]
Bringing the tiniest Thanksgiving float ever to life
Bringing the design to life was an entirely new challenge for the Macys team. Typically, Kennedy explains, theyre contending with the massive scale of the floats, which need to be simultaneously spectacular but also street-safe and foldable in order to pack up for transport. Designing a tiny float invited its own host of unique considerations: namely, how to make the wintery scene durable at such a small size.
Kennedys team addressed that concern by building a custom base, which is hidden by a lining of orange fringe around the float. Its an aluminum structure, made in the shape of a Goldfish cracker, that was hand-cut in-house. Kennedy describes it as essentially a thick skateboard. Most important for the floats longevity, its wheels are omnidirectional, meaning it wont easily be tripped up on uneven surfaces.
[The wheels] kind of look like a Ping-Pong ball inside of a metal scoop, Kennedy says. They’re used in robotics a lot of the time. We found that these worked best because of their omnidirectional ability. A traditional float bed just has to roll straight and then turn, and it’s just these big old tires. But for this, it could basically go in any direction at any point.
[Photo: Goldfish]
On top of the aluminum base, the part of the Littlest Float thats actually visible is a 3D-printed landscape thats been sanded down and hand-painted to achieve a detailed look up close. As a finishing touch, the whole contraption is pulled by a tiny Ram truck with workable blinkers and side mirrors, manufactured by a company called Primal RC that makes an officially licensed miniature of the vehicle. Kennedy says this element was important for continuity, since Ram is a sponsor of the parade, and its trucks will be pulling all the standard-size floats.
To get the right shot of the diminutive float, the Macys team worked with NBC, the parades broadcast partner, to set up a dedicated steady rig camera that sits just 6 inches off the ground. On the day of the event, a team of actorspurposefully selected to be above-average height in order to play up the conceitwill follow the Littlest Float around the square and keep an eye on it.
I think it’s really fun and silly, and it’s such a good way of showing how the Macy’s Studios team can come together and reinvent what it means to parade, Kennedy says. It’s clowns, and performances, and magicto make everybody look up, see some balloons, forget about their day or week or year, and just have some fun. We really just like coming up with new ways to do that for all the folks on the street and at home.
Thanksgiving is a beautiful day filled with family, loved ones, and good food. All that merriment takes copious amounts of labor and planning ahead.
It is almost inevitable that something will fall between the cracks and a last-minute store run will be necessary. But is that even possible?
Heres a quick breakdown of what is open and closed on Thanksgiving 2025 to help you out in a pinch should you have a missing cranberry sauce crisis.
But first lets take a look at everyday services:
Is Thanksgiving a federal holiday?
Yes, Thanksgiving is a federal holiday celebrated annually in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. This makes November 27 the big day in 2025. Federal workers get a day off to observe the holiday.
Will mail be delivered on Thanksgiving?
No, there will be no letter or bills delivered on Thanksgiving. The only exception is Priority Mail Express. The United States Postal Service (USPS) will keep post offices closed, but some self-service kiosks will still be open.
UPS will also be closed and not delivering on turkey day. The only exception is UPS Express Critical service.
Similarly, FedEx locations will be closed. The only deliveries being made on Thanksgiving day are FedEx Custom Critical.
Are banks open on Thanksgiving?
No, banks are not open on Thanksgiving day. If you need some cash, though, ATMs outside of locations are generally open. Online banking is also an option.
Is the stock market trading on Thanksgiving?
No. Both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq exchange will be closed for business. No opening bells will ring out.
What stores are open on Thanksgiving?
Its time to get into the cranberry sauce of it all. The following stores are open.
Grocery stores
Whole Foods: Open with limited hours. Hours vary by location
Sprouts: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
H Mart: Hours vary by location.
Kroger: Some stores open with limited hours and a 5 p.m. closing time. Some pharmacies will be closed.
Meijer: 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Save A Lot: Hours vary by location
Retailers
Starbucks: Hours vary by location
Dollar General: Hours vary by location
Family Dollar: Hours vary by location
Bass Pro Shops: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Big Lots: Most open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. but hours vary by location.
Cabelas: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
What stores are closed on Thanksgiving?
Do not try your luck at the following stores, as they will all be closed:
Trader Joes
Publix
Costco
Walmart
My kid is sick. Are any 24-hour pharmacies open?
Many regular Walgreens stores will be closed on Thanksgiving, but its another story for their 24-pharmacy locations. Most of these will be open for business and emergency medicine runs.
CVS, meanwhile, is open but with limited holiday hours.
If you need medication, be sure to check your local store hours before making a trip.
Thanksgiving is a beautiful day filled with family, loved ones, and good food. All that merriment takes copious amounts of labor and planning ahead.
It is almost inevitable that something will fall between the cracks and a last-minute store run will be necessary. But is that even possible?
Heres a quick breakdown of what is open and closed on Thanksgiving 2025 to help you out in a pinch should you have a missing cranberry sauce crisis.
But first lets take a look at everyday services:
Is Thanksgiving a federal holiday?
Yes, Thanksgiving is a federal holiday celebrated annually in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. This makes November 27 the big day in 2025. Federal workers get a day off to observe the holiday.
Will mail be delivered on Thanksgiving?
No, there will be no letter or bills delivered on Thanksgiving. The only exception is Priority Mail Express. The United States Postal Service (USPS) will keep post offices closed, but some self-service kiosks will still be open.
UPS will also be closed and not delivering on turkey day. The only exception is UPS Express Critical service.
Similarly, FedEx locations will be closed. The only deliveries being made on Thanksgiving day are FedEx Custom Critical.
Are banks open on Thanksgiving?
No, banks are not open on Thanksgiving day. If you need some cash, though, ATMs outside of locations are generally open. Online banking is also an option.
Is the stock market trading on Thanksgiving?
No. Both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq exchange will be closed for business. No opening bells will ring out.
What stores are open on Thanksgiving?
Its time to get into the cranberry sauce of it all. The following stores are open.
Grocery stores
Whole Foods: Open with limited hours. Hours vary by location
Sprouts: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
H Mart: Hours vary by location.
Kroger: Some stores open with limited hours and a 5 p.m. closing time. Some pharmacies will be closed.
Meijer: 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Save A Lot: Hours vary by location
Retailers
Starbucks: Hours vary by location
Dollar General: Hours vary by location
Family Dollar: Hours vary by location
Bass Pro Shops: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Big Lots: Most open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. but hours vary by location.
Cabelas: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
What stores are closed on Thanksgiving?
Do not try your luck at the following stores, as they will all be closed:
Trader Joes
Publix
Costco
Walmart
My kid is sick. Are any 24-hour pharmacies open?
Many regular Walgreens stores will be closed on Thanksgiving, but its another story for their 24-pharmacy locations. Most of these will be open for business and emergency medicine runs.
CVS, meanwhile, is open but with limited holiday hours.
If you need medication, be sure to check your local store hours before making a trip.
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.
We sleep with our phones. Were tied to these devices for work, at homeeven on vacation.
43% of Americans feel addicted
I was intrigued when writer Daniel Parris offered to share tips and tools he relies on to weaken the distracting pull of his phone.
Daniel is a data scientist and data journalist who writes Stat Significant, a weekly newsletter with more than 23,000 readers. Its a lively read, with data-centric essays about movies, music, TV, and more.
Between his consulting projects, pop culture data analyses, and weekly writing, Daniel juggles a lot. He relies on a curated toolkit to minimize distraction. In this guest post, he shares his favorite new tools for managing time and sharpening focus.
A return to focus
Daniel Explains: A year ago, I read Cal Newport’s Deep Work. It led me to rethink time management and reassess the distractions affecting my focus.
Like most people, my smartphone makes daily life easierI text, get directions, send memes, and answer emails. In return for that convenience, my device quietly siphons away hours of free time.
Since I first got an iPhone, I’ve found more and more of my time sliding toward social media and other escapist apps. Millions of others face similar challenges.
Inspired by Deep Work, I wanted to see if I could retain the best aspects of modern tech without surrendering more time than necessary.
Through trial and error, I’ve found a set of tools that help curb aimless tech use. I’m far from perfect, but these approaches have given me a foundation to build on.
Blank spacessimplify your home screen
If youd like to cut back on aimlessly scrolling through apps in search of a distractionBlank Spaces is worth a try. The app replaces your home screen with a minimalist launcher that displays essential tools in a simplified layout.
You can still access all your apps through your phone’s search bar, but the interface eliminates habitual app tapping. Choosing five to eight essential apps may sound limiting, but you’ll gradually realize how little you actually need from your phone.
Price: Free for 7 days, then $4/month; $18/year; $24/lifetime
Brickblock distracting apps
Brick is a small near-field communication (NFC) puck that pairs with an app. Its been the biggest breakthrough in how I use my phone. It lets me retain the fundamental utility of a smartphone (Google Maps, Yelp, Spotify) while blocking the apps that steal my time, including social media.
You select the apps or websites you want to block, then tap your phone against the Brick to enter Brick Mode. It blocks distractions and notifications from your disabled apps, and everything else stays. To re-enable access to your restricted apps, you have to physically tap your Brick again.
Brick may sound like a glorified app blocker. But the added friction makes all the difference. I usually place my Brick somewhere mildly inconvenient, far enough away to remind me I don’t really need to open Instagram right now.
Repeatedly bricking and unbricking my phone usually sparks some healthy introspection. Why am I working this hard just to check my email?
After my first few days, I got used to having my device bricked. Thats since become my phone’s default setting.
Price: $59; students get a 20% discount.
Yondr Boxput phones away
Yondr may be most attractive to families or groups who want to collectively limit phone time. Phone boxes like this one allow you to store devices in a safe-like receptacle for a predetermined period.
The features associated with these contraptions vary. Some prevent your phone from receiving a cell signal. With most of them, you set a timer and cant access your device until after the time has elapsed. Yondr and other tools like it work well for family game nigt or movie marathons.
Price: $249 [Cheaper options include the $40 Mindsight Timed Lock Box – JC]
Light Phoneget a simpler device
When I was in middle school, I had a Motorola Razr. It could do very little beyond calls and texts. It broke constantly, but I loved my silly little Razr phone. For a 13 year old in the early 2000s, it was the best phone you could get. Then I got an iPhone. Overnight my Razr seemed like it was made of Play-Doh.
Flash forward two decades, and a small but growing group of consumers is retreating to dumbphonesdevices with stripped-down functionality. (See a chart illustrating growth in interest)
Some of these devices are extremely dumb. They work only for calling and texting. Others embrace a more intentional kind of minimalism.
The Light Phone offers only essential functions: calling, texting, alarms, and directions. This streamlined design reduces screen time and digital distraction.
It intentionally excludes social media, email, and web browsing, encouraging users to disconnect from their smartphones without going off the grid completely.
Ive long flirted with buying a Light Phone, but have yet to pull the trigger. I have a friend who owns one and swears by it.
In 2025, buying a dumbphone is a radical act. In 2002, you’d have been just like everyone else. It’s amazing how 20 years of technological progress can completely recalibrate how we live.
Price: $699 for version 3 or $299 for version 2.
Time-Block Plannermake time to focus
This physical notebook helps me plan my day in 30-minute increments. Each task gets a defined start and end time. Time blocks are allocated between work, meetings, breaks, and admin taskswith the aim of minimizing idle time, avoiding the mental drag of context switching, and carving out uninterrupted stretches for deep work.
When I first started time-blocking, it felt borderline draconianlike I was robbing my day of spontaneity. Over time, I’ve found it frees me up to focus on doing higher-quality work, instead of constantly thinking about what I should be thinking about.
The scheduler helps me frontload my planning into one intentional session at the start of the day, instead of reconfiguring priorities every hour.
I get that an analog journal isn’t the sexiest recommendation.
Still, I like being able to plan my day without digital distraction, and I appreciate being able to see my schedule without staring at a screen.
Price: $27.90 at Amazon
Daniel was one of DoorDashs first 150 employees and data science hires. After working there for nearly six years, Daniel moved into consulting and data writing. Over the past year, hes taken on some of pop cultures greatest conundrums:
At What Age Do We Stop Looking for New Music?
Which Movies Popularized (or Tarnished) Baby Names?
Which Shows Got Their Finale Right, and Which Didnt?
Check out Stat Significant
Check out Stat Significant to read more of Daniel’s work:
Why Did Hollywood Stop Making Comedies?
How Many Episodes Should You Watch Before Quitting a TV Show?
Is Rotten Tomatoes Still Reliable?
Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn or at daniel@statsignificant.com
This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.
National home prices rose +0.1% year-over-year between October 2024 and October 2025, according to the Zillow Home Value Index reading published last weeka decelerated rate from the +2.4% year-over-year rate between October 2023 and October 2024.
In the first half of 2025, the number of major metro area housing markets seeing year-over-year declines climbed. That count has since stopped ticking up.
> 31 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 10% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the January 2024 to January 2025 window.
> 42 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 14% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the February 2024 to February 2025 window.
> 60 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 20% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the March 2024 to March 2025 window.
> 80 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 27% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the April 2024 to April 2025 window.
> 96 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 32% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the May 2024 to May 2025 window.
> 110 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 36% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the June 2024 to June 2025 window.
> 105 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 36% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the July 2024 to July 2025 window.
> 109 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 35% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the August 2024 to August 2025 window.
> 105 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 35% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the September 2024 to September 2025 window.
> 105 of the nations 300 largest housing markets (i.e., 35% of markets) had a falling year-over-year reading in the October 2024 to October 2025 window.
Earlier this year, an increasing number of housing markets slipped into year-over-year price declines as the supply-demand balance gradually tilted more toward buyers. But in recent months, the list of declining markets has begun to stabilize as inventory growth has stalled.
Home prices are still climbing in many regions where active inventory remains well below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, such as pockets of the Northeast and Midwest. In contrast, some pockets in states like Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Coloradowhere active inventory exceeds pre-pandemic 2019 levelsare seeing modest home price pullbacks.
Many of the housing markets seeing the most softness, where homebuyers have gained the most leverage, are primarily located in Sun Belt regions, particularly the Gulf Coast and Mountain West.
Many of these areas saw major price surges during the Pandemic Housing Boom, with home price growth outpacing local income levels. As pandemic-driven domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Tampa and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices.
This softening trend is further compounded by an abundance of new home supply in the Sun Belt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives to maintain sales, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market. Some buyers, who would have previously considered existing homes, are now opting for new homes with more favorable homebuilder deals.
window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}});
Of course, while 105 of the nations 300 largest metro area housing markets are seeing year-over-year home price declines, another 195 are still seeing year-over-year home price increases.
Where are home prices still up on a year-over-year basis? See the map below.
window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}});
A Thanksgiving tradition since 1924, the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade has not quite turned 100 years-old yet. How is this possible you might wonder? Because it was skipped for three years1942, 1943, and 1944during World War II.
Nevertheless, its 99th anniversary is shaping up to be spectacular. Heres everything you need to know about the (mostly) annual event in New York City, including how to tune in.
The Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade by the numbers
It takes many people to pull off the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Some even do the pulling literally.) There will be more than 5,000 volunteers working hard to make magic happen.
This spectacle includes 34 balloons and 28 floats. There are also four “ballonicles,” which are essentially balloons on wheels. Lets not forget the 14 specialty units, 33 clown groups, 11 marching bands, and the one and only Santa Claus.
The parade route begins on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and ends on 34th Street in Midtown.
Whos performing at the 2025 Macy’s parade?
Theres a little something for everyone this year.
Elphaba Thropp herself, Cynthia Erivo, will kick things off with an opening number performance.
Much to the delight of hip children everywhere, the singing voices of HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters will also have a golden moment to shine.
Broadway fans can look forward to numbers from Buena Vista Social Club, Just in Time, and Ragtime.
Country fans will look forward to Lainey Wilsons vocal talents, and the Radio City Rockettes will high kick their hearts out.
Thats just the beginning.
There are also performances by Drew Baldridge, Matteo Bocelli, Colbie Caillat, Ciara, Gavin DeGraw, Meg Donnelly, Mr. Fantasy, Foreigner, Debbie Gibson, Mickey Guyton, Christopher Jackson, Jewel, Lil Jon, Kool & the Gang, Darlene Love, Roman Mejia, Taylor Momsen, Tiler Peck, Busta Rhymes, Calum Scott, Shaggy, Lauren Spencer Smith, Luísa Sonza, and Teyana Taylor.
Its a jammed-packed event.
What other celebrities are appearing?
Beyond the performances, the parade will be a star-studded event, filled with athletes such as U.S. Olympian Ilia Malinin and U.S Paralympian Jack Wallace. Actors Kristoffer Polaha and Nikki DeLoach will also dazzle the parade route. Sean Evans will serve as a special correspondent
What new floats will join the parade?
There are six new floats this year making their way down the parade route.
Science fiction fans look out for Upside Down Invasion: Stranger Things by Netflix. Travel lovers can look forward to The Land of Ice & Wonder by Holland America Line. Parade lovers young and young at heart will be excited for Brick-tastic Winter Mountain by the Lego Group.
Rounding out the new floats are Master Chocolatier Ballroom by Lindt, Friends-giving in Pop City by Pop Mart, and The Counting Sheeps Dream Generator by Serta.
What new balloons will join the 2025 parade?
There are four new additions full of hot air to dazzle onlookers.
Buzz Lightyear and Pac-Man will have their time to float, as will Shreks Onion Carriage and Mario.
Additionally, KPop Demon Hunters fans should keep their eyes peeled for Derpy Tiger and Sussie, who will appear in midsized balloon and ballonicle form.
How can I watch or stream the parade live this year?
The parade airs today (Thursday, November 27), which is Thanksgiving. No matter your time zone, the action starts at 8:30 a.m. on NBC.
NBC’s telecast covers those with traditional cable subscriptions and those with an over-the-air antenna with good reception. If you have the latter, you can watch the parade for free.
The event will also be available on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming platform.
If Peacock is not in your streaming arsenal, you can turn to a live-TV streaming platform that includes NBC in its bundle. Those include:
Hulu + Live TV
YouTube TV
Sling TV
Unfortunately, due to a carriage dispute between NBCUniversal and Fubo, NBC had been removed from that streaming service as of press time. Be sure to check regional differences before you commit to yet another monthly charge.
Black Friday isn’t what it used to be. Less than 15 years ago, it was fairly common for people to wake up at ridiculously early hours to drive to a store, where they would stand in line, waiting for the doors to open in order to grab the best deals.
Those people still exist, but not in the numbers they used to, thanks to the convenience of online shopping (and the early start to holiday deals). But as artificial intelligence becomes more entrenched, it could play an outsized role in Black Friday (and Cyber Monday)and 2025 could be something of a test case for the technology.
The average consumer is expected to spend $1,595 on holiday gifts this year, according to Deloitte. That’s 10% less than 2024 and highlights the importance shoppers will place on bargains this year. And a growing number of consumers will be relying on AI to help them find those deals.
Some 33% of the people Deloitte spoke to in its 2025 Holiday Retail Survey said they plan to use AI as part of their holiday shoppingdouble the number who did last year. Many say the tech could assist them with inspiration and product discovery.
That could benefit retailers who have already embraced AI in their recommendation engines, as well as those planning to roll it out.
“Consumer adoption of gen AI shows that expectations are shifting toward personalization and efficiency,” Deloitte’s report states. “Shoppers now expect instant recommendations tailored to their preferences, budgets, and recipients, raising the bar for retailers digital experiences. To meet holiday shoppers expectations, retailers could consider embedding AI-powered gift finders, style assistants, or deal copilots directly into their sites or apps.”
A separate study from marketing automation platform Klaviyo found that 56% of consumers say theyll use AI tools during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
AI can do a lot more than just help people think of creative gifts, of course. Gen AI models like ChatGPT can research prices and recommend the best deal, in some cases even making the purchase for you, a feature used by a growing number of people. Traffic from AI platforms to retail sites during Prime Days and other sales in July was up by 4,700%, according to Adobe Analytics. And the company is predicting an increase in AI usage of between 515% and 550% this holiday season, compared to 2024.
Thinking of enlisting a Gen AI to help you find deals? Here’s how to go about it.
Make your list. Check it twice
Chatbots dont work so well without specifics. You’ll need to know exactly what you’re looking to buy if you’re planning to use AI for price comparisons.
Using the broadest example, telling ChatGPT you’re looking for the best price on, say, a Barbie or a blender is akin to calling a Best Buy or Gamestop and saying you want to know their best price for a game console. The $60 no-name brand that has a Tetris clone might technically be the correct answer, but that does you no good if you really wanted a PlayStation 5.
Set the AI loose
Ask your chatbot to find the best deals for your specific product.
Again, details matter, so be sure to offer as much granularity as you can about the product. (To go back to the PS5 example, do you want the PS5 with a disc drive? What amount of internal storage do you want? Do you want a PS5 Slim or Pro or some other model?) It’s also worth asking the chatbot to suggest additional ways to save, such as applicable cash-back apps (like Rakuten), promo codes, or coupons.
Fact check the results
Prices change all the time during the holiday season, so just because ChatGPT says Store X has the best deal, you’ll still want to check that store’s website to verify the amount your AI assistant quoted is still valid. At the very least, using AI to help you shop will quickly eliminate some options and, ideally, free up some of your time, letting you spend less of November and December hunting for deals and more time enjoying the season.
Below, Corinne Low shares five key insights from her new book, Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Womens Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours.
Corinne is an economist and professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy. She also regularly speaks to and advises companies on their practices.
Whats the big idea?
Women face unequal demands at home and in the workplace, making having it all costly. Research shows how hidden factors shape choices and offers a way to reclaim time, energy, and joy.
Listen to the audio version of this Book Biteread by Corinne herselfbelow, or in the Next Big Idea App.
1. Its not in your head; its in the data
In 2017, I gave birth to my sonand had a midlife crisis. Things that used to work, like commuting two and a half hours to my job, just didnt add up anymore. I was constantly stressed, angry, depleted, and so tired all the time. Pumping in the Amtrak bathroom, crying that I would miss my sons bedtime because of a train delay, I wondered, Is it just me?
I started studying womens time use, and the data told me I was far from alone. Women are getting squeezed from all sides. As our time in the labor market has increased, our time on home responsibilities hasnt declined accordingly. This is for two reasons:
Mens time spent cooking and cleaning has stayed fixed since the 1970s.
The way we parent has become much more intensive than a generation ago.
Mothers in the ’80s were not babywearing and pumping at work or driving to a million activities. I grew up in the ’80s, and we were out riding bikes with no snacks and no water bottleswe must have been very dehydrated! The parenting game has changed.
Some changes are great and have to do with our greater understanding of child development, but we spend almost twice as much time with our kids as compared to mothers only a generation ago. Without getting sufficient help from our partners, there just arent enough hours in the day.
The amount our partners do also doesnt change when women are the primary breadwinners at home. Women who are the breadwinners still do twice as much cooking and cleaning as their lower-earning male partnerswinning the bread and baking it too.
If you look at time usage over a lifecycle, you see womens time use on kids and housework swells to a mountain in our thirties (a period I call the squeeze), and the mirror image of that is our time on leisure and career investments, which goes down like a valley. During that period, time inequality with men is also at its peak. They do less childcare and housework and have more work and leisure time. We need to figure out a different way forward.
2. Your goal in life is utility, not career success
The problems facing women in the workplace are structural. Were trying to be a Frankenstein of a super career woman at the office and an Instagram mom at home. We feel like were falling behind because were trying to do more (succeed in a world built by and for men) with less. But economists model human beings as maximizing not career success, not prestige, but their utility function.
Your utility function is unique to you.
Utility is like a firms profit function. Your personal profit function is made up of all the things that bring you joy, meaning, and fulfillment over the course of your lifetime. If you were to look back at your life when youre 85 years old, what would make you say, That was a life well lived? Your career is part of that, but its not the whole thing.
Your utility function is unique to you. Only you know what brings you the deepest feelings of satisfaction. So, you cant compare yourself to someone else in terms of accomplishment because theyve accomplished different thingstheir utility function is different! Meaning, theyre maximizing something else.
3. A job is a tool to turn time into money
Lets talk about where your career fits into your utility function. Your job converts time (the natural resource youre endowed with to maximize utility) into money. Your job is like an ATM; you put time into it and get money out of it.
Ideally, it does this with minimal hassle and maybe some enjoyment, potentially adding to your utility rather than subtracting from it. But when I ask people what they would do with their time if money were no object, almost no one says theyd try to file more reports or climb higher on the corporate ladder. Thats because we recognize that a job is a means to utility, not an end.
If we didnt need the money that comes from employment, wed spend most of our time on things we really enjoy: being with loved ones, hobbies, nature, and taking care of ourselves. We need to think of our careers a little more transactionally than the business books at airports press us to. Exactly how much money do I need at each phase of my life, and how do I plot a career that gets me that while eating up as little of my precious time as possible? This means thinking hard about the lifecycle of your job.
Investing lots of time in your twenties can make sense because youre not as squeezed by home responsibilities, and it can buy you a better time-to-money conversion rate from your job later in life. But you want to make sure youre in a field where you are working toward the ability to take your foot off the gas at some pointlike during the squeezeand use more of that time making utility directly. Otherwise, the prize for the pie-eating contest is more pie! Your investment in your career should be proportional to the role money plays in maximizing your utility. Everything else is just chasing success at the expense of true happiness.
4. You can work like a girl and get paid
There is no evidence that male traits are actually more productive, and there certainly isnt any evidence that women will be rewarded for mimicking them. When I got to Wharton, a male colleague told me that students respect you more when you are tough, saying that I needed to show them who was boss right from the start.
So, I marked them tardy if they were a minute late, and guess what? They hated it coming from me. A female professor told me that shed found her students expected her to be really nice, and she had to fulfill their social expectations to receive good reviews. Research backs up this anecdote: Women are often penalized for failing to exhibit expected traits like niceness and community-mindedness.
I want women to view their gendered traits as superpowers.
While its also true that the evidence shows that men are, on average, more competitive, more risk-loving, tougher negotiators, and greater self-promoters, it does not say that those things lead to more productivity or higher profits. In a study on competitiveness, men were overcompetitive. Subjects performed a task and had to decide whether they wanted to receive payment for their efforts or participate in a tournament, where they would only be paid if they scored the highest. Of the worst-performing men (the men certain to lose the tournament), 60% still chose to enter rather than take the guaranteed payoff.
In my own research on negotiation, I found that male-male pairs were more than twice as likely to fail to reach an agreement and therefore walk away from a negotiation with nothing. I want women to view their gendered traits as superpowers, and find workplaces where they can get ahead by being themselvesnot by pretending to be a man and getting punished for it anyway.
5. We must radically prioritize what contributes to our happiness
When the deck is stacked against us, we cant keep trying to play fairmeeting everyone elses needs, and never our own. We have to become ruthless in aligning our time with what gives us utility. Take these three steps:
Renegotiate how time and money are allocated in your household.
Throw out your houseplants and make other hard choices.
Pay yourself first with leisure time.
First, to renegotiate the deal in your household, I want you and your partner to track your time. Often, men think theyre doing about half the household work, but thats only because they do half of the things they know about. While theyre doing half the school drop-offs, youre the one making sure there are clothes in the right size, lunches packed, after-school care, and playdates are scheduledhalf of which you multitask during work. If you track your time, you might realize theres a lot more inequality than you think, and you can start reallocating.
Once you reallocate the households joint time budget, if theres still inequality in work and leisure time, see if reallocating money can help. Not outsourcing a task is hiring yourself to do it. We rarely do this with male-coded tasks (like car repair and plumbing), but somehow, for female-coded tasks, we forget that doing something in-house has an opportunity cost of where else you could invest that time. If youre a lawyer who bills at a certain rate, or a nurse who could pick up an extra shift, can you really afford that much of your own time for laundry?
We have to become ruthless in aligning our time with what gives us utility.
Second, throw out your houseplants is my pithy phrase for decluttering your time of anything thats an obligation rather than a calling. For me, it was wilting houseplants that I didnt have time to care for and made me feel like a failure. For you, it might be volunteering at your kids school, making homemade baby food, or planning the office retreat. Understanding how were being squeezed from all sides gives you the freedom to say, Nope, this doesnt add up for me right now. Importantly, you can always say yes later when youre in a different, and easier, chapter of your life.
Lastly, pay yourself first with leisure time. We do get some time to ourselves, but often its just little crumbles of time left over at the end of the day. By then, were so depleted we end up just zoning out on our phones. If we block out time for the things that bring us the most joy and meaning, everything else can claim the scraps! Its like how we can suddenly get a project done in an hour before the deadlinethings expand to fill the available space in our calendars. Block your leisure time like an important meeting, and let yourself be your own top priority.
Enjoy our full library of Book Bitesread by the authors!in the Next Big Idea app.
This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
