The Cost of American Living – Then and Now
January 6, 2010 – 9:33 amWhile continuing my de-clutter exercises, I came upon this Pages of Time magnet on my fridge. Since I was born in 1965 the Time Magnet lists prices for that year. Here’s what they were then and what they are today.
|
|
1965 |
2009 |
% Increase |
|
Income |
$6469.00 median |
$27,590.16 median ($55,000 average) |
326.65% |
|
Loaf of Bread |
$.21 |
$2.79 |
1185.71% |
|
Gallon of Milk |
$.31 |
$3.75 |
1109.68% |
|
Gallon of Gas |
$1.05 |
$2.61 |
148.57% |
|
Home |
$13,600. |
$276,917.00 |
1936.15% |
|
Dow Jones Industrial Average Range |
840.59 – 969.26 |
6469.95 – 10604.97 |
843.43% |
Not a numbers person? Here’s what I see:
In my lifetime, incomes rose 300% but everyday items like bread and milk prices rose 1100%.
Gas prices really didn’t rise that much. (Perhaps we just drive that much more or we talk about it that much more.)
In 1965 the average house cost twice as much as your average income; today it’s ten times more.
But as a realtor I was happy to see that despite the short term view that the media often spins on long term investments, both stocks and real estate investments rose incredibly high AND if I had to choose between the two, I’d still buy and invest in real estate over stocks any day of the week.
Sources:
http://investmenttools.com/median_and_average_sales_prices_of_houses_sold_in_the_us.htm#re_div_dow
http://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-049.pdf
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dow.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_average_income_per_person_in_US_in_2009
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_average_price_of_loaf_bread_in_january_2009
