https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/escaping-the-tyranny-of-the-rocket-equation/

As aptly noted by shuttle veteran Don Pettit, humans are distinctly disadvantaged in seeking to achieve orbit. The problem, colloquially known as the “tyranny of the rocket equation,” is that as payload mass increases, so does the amount of propellant required to break free of Earth’s gravitational grip. Even among spacecraft of radically different design, the ratios are strikingly similar. The Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon was 85 percent propellant by mass on the launchpad, nearly identical to the space shuttle. And the amount of payload mass hardly ever exceeds 4 percent of that of the entire rocket.

Thus, all launch vehicles suffer from Earth’s gravity with equal effect. While new discoveries in materials science are yielding tremendous advances in the structural integrity of spacecraft, only marginal improvements in the cargo-to-weight ratios have been found. The more one does the math, the less advantageous Earth-based launch becomes.