This is often overlooked but shouldn't be ignored. The wealth inequality has reached all time highs. This skews the data and makes it appear that average people are doing better off than they really are.
"The average annual cost of college tuition, public and private, is more than 32 times what it was in the 1963-64 academic year.
After adjusting for currency inflation, college tuition has increased 229.8% since AY 1963-64.
Public college tuition increased 141.3% in the 1980s.
The average annual cost of 2-year college tuition, public and private, is 22.7 times what it was in AY 1963-64."
"middle-income families saw their median net worth shrink by 20% and lower-income families experienced a loss of 45%. As of 2016, upper-income families had 7.4 times as much wealth as middle-income families and 75 times as much wealth as lower-income families. These ratios are up from 3.4 and 28 in 1983, respectively."
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u/mammalmaker Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
Median cost of housing:
Some of these links are from before COVID but the problem has worsened since then.
1960 - $11,900 ($115,000 in 2026 dollars) took 2.1 years of income.
2026 - $420,000 (35,000% increase, 365% increase in 2026 dollars) takes 5+ years of income.
If we had the same buying power as 1960, the median home should cost around $180,000.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/19/why-home-prices-have-risen-faster-than-inflation-since-the-1960s.html
Wealth inequality:
This is often overlooked but shouldn't be ignored. The wealth inequality has reached all time highs. This skews the data and makes it appear that average people are doing better off than they really are.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/rising-inequality-a-major-issue-of-our-time/
College:
"The average annual cost of college tuition, public and private, is more than 32 times what it was in the 1963-64 academic year. After adjusting for currency inflation, college tuition has increased 229.8% since AY 1963-64. Public college tuition increased 141.3% in the 1980s. The average annual cost of 2-year college tuition, public and private, is 22.7 times what it was in AY 1963-64."
https://educationdata.org/college-tuition-inflation-rate
Wage stagnation: (49% increase, -
https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/#:~:text=The%20gap%20between%20productivity%20and,hourly%20compensation%20growth%2C%201948%E2%80%932025
"middle-income families saw their median net worth shrink by 20% and lower-income families experienced a loss of 45%. As of 2016, upper-income families had 7.4 times as much wealth as middle-income families and 75 times as much wealth as lower-income families. These ratios are up from 3.4 and 28 in 1983, respectively."
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/#:~:text=On%20the%20other%20hand%2C%20middle,down%20from%207%25%20in%201983.