Stillwater is a small town on the eastern edge of Minnesota, surrounded by fields and farms. Natalie Pilrain is driving on the highway, stuck behind a tractor going 25 miles an hour.

“Yeah, in this area specifically, yeah, you definitely get that once in a while,” she said.

Pilrain is on her way to do some furniture shopping. The 19-year-old lives with her dad, but is about to move out on her own for the first time, into a two-bedroom apartment that costs around $1,800 a month.

“I actually just signed my lease officially last night,” she said. “I mean, it’s just me and my son, you know. Being a single mom and trying to make your own living and move out on your own, it's not easy.”

Pilrain’s two-and-a-half-year-old son Isaac is in the backseat, watching cartoons. She had him when she was 17, during her senior year of high school. Isaac’s father is not involved, so Pilrain’s dad babysits when he can. But part of the reason she’s moving is to be closer to aunts and uncles who have more time to help. She’s saved $15,000 to move out and buy everything she needs.

At the furniture store, Isaac is in heaven. The showroom is huge, like a giant playhouse. He’s skipping around with a big smile, gently touching the shaggy rugs and soft couches.

Pilrain is a bit intimidated though. A sales guy comes over while she’s looking at mattresses and asks whether she’d prefer memory foam or a traditional innerspring.

“Um, maybe either? I’m not really sure. I’ve never bought a mattress before,” she said, with a nervous laugh.

Pilrain plops down on a few beds and glances at the price tags. The one she loves is over $3,000.

“I’m willing to pay, like, a decent penny,” she whispered. “But yeah I don’t think we’ll be doing that.” 

Pilrain also needs a couch, dining chairs and a bookshelf. There’s a lot to buy — and a lot on her plate. Maybe this doesn’t need to be said, but Pilrain is not your average 19-year-old. She doesn’t go to bars and she doesn’t date. She finds joy in things that usually people a decade or so older than her are excited about.

“Two years ago, I bought myself a Shark vacuum,” she said, when asked about a time she’s splurged on a purchase. “That was very exciting. I mean, I got it on sale, actually, so I think it was only, like $200 or $250.”

Pilrain never imagined having a kid so young. But doesn’t think she would have accomplished everything she has without Isaac.

“I don't even know if I would have graduated high school or I know I wouldn't have gotten this job,” she said.

Pilrain is apprenticing as a heavy equipment operator. She loves running the excavator. Most of her projects right now are building roads. She recently finished working on a bridge in St. Paul.

“Now, like, driving by and seeing the buses driving on the bridge, or the first time I drove my car over it,” she said, “It's just, like, ‘Wow, I helped build this.’”

The job though is tough. During the summer, she works 12 hours a day or more, which means Isaac needs full-time daycare and often a babysitter in the evening. For three or four months of the winter, when Minnesota temperatures are too cold for construction, she’s laid off. It means at $28.95 an hour, she has to keep a strict budget.

Even so, she doesn’t feel particularly grumpy about the economy and inflation.

“It's kind of like blissful ignorance, almost,” said Pilrain. “Like I wasn't buying my own groceries as a teenager, when things were a lot cheaper. So it feels normal, you know. Things are expensive, life is hard. That's just the way things are.”

Pilrain is just joining the economy, years after inflation hit its peak of more than 9% in 2022. She doesn’t know a time when daycare was more than 20% less and ground beef was around $4 a pound instead of nearly $6. Nostalgia doesn’t play into how she views the economy.

“As all these prices go up, wages go up too, or so it seems,” she said. “So, I feel like, in a way, it almost kind of balances out.“

Data backs that up. Broadly speaking, over the last five years, wages have consistently outpaced inflation. It’s why Pilrain is a little confused about why everyone on TikTok is complaining about the economy. 

Still, Pilrain admits she has a couple years before she really feels secure. Eventually, she’ll finish her job training and transition Isaac from pricey daycare to school.

“Things are only going to get easier,” she said. “And I have that security that things are only looking up from here.”