1962 Cost of Living

**rennigade** · 08-10-2016, 04:38 AM

It appears that some items were more expensive back then compared to salary and some were cheaper compared to salary.

**james.hendrickson** · 08-11-2016, 08:52 AM

I just love that fact that the dollar amounts were so low back then.

**sv2007** · 08-11-2016, 09:31 AM

Average house price vs (household) income was similar to 1995 pricing, about 2.5x.

I feel, that for the general population, that the top end income has grown a lot (income for people with advanced degrees in the right fields) more than the middle income, the income gap is widening in the US. Don't know if it is overall good to America; but definitely know whether it is good for specific individuals.

Also, today, there seems to be a lot of spending on luxury, e.g. expensive cars, cell phones, entertainment, designer clothing. Maybe due to improved productivity; maybe due to taking on more debt or the China factor; sure a combination.

**GoodSteward** · 08-11-2016, 09:52 AM

Ratios look similar to today on houses, cars, etc. Not on tuition or food. People look at the amounts, but I look at the ratios. Buying power is what really matters, and from what it appears that hasn't shifted a lot on average. Based on what i read the income is 10x higher today for the median income(not tech. the same as avg). I also googled it and the avg new car is about the same 10x as much at 32,000$ today. In fact, a majority of the items are approx 10x more today than they were then.

Moral of the story. We can buy close to the same today with the same money. The problem is that we think we need more today (cell phones, tvs, entertainment, big houses) and we finance our cash flow down to nothing.

**sv2007** · 08-11-2016, 10:00 AM

Originally posted by GoodSteward View Post

Ratios look similar to today on houses, cars, etc. Not on tuition or food. People look at the amounts, but I look at the ratios. Buying power is what really matters, and from what it appears that hasn't shifted a lot on average. Based on what i read the income is 10x higher today for the median income(not tech. the same as avg). I also googled it and the avg new car is about the same 10x as much at 32,000$ today. In fact, a majority of the items are approx 10x more today than they were then.

Moral of the story. We can buy close to the same today with the same money. The problem is that we think we need more today (cell phones, tvs, entertainment, big houses) and we finance our cash flow down to nothing.

Today the average cars per household is over 2, back then it was under 1. So given this, wouldn't we need to double your $32k?

Anyway, today's spending pattern is different (and US gov CPI is compiled on current patterns, so we can't/shouldn't really compare too much with the distance past)

**GoodSteward** · 08-11-2016, 11:29 AM

Originally posted by sv2007 View Post

Today the average cars per household is over 2, back then it was under 1. So given this, wouldn't we need to double your $32k?

Anyway, today's spending pattern is different (and US gov CPI is compiled on current patterns, so we can't/shouldn't really compare too much with the distance past)

True, it isn't a 1 to 1 comparison. People are buying more and more, like you said with 2 cars vs 1. That doesn't take away from the price of a new car today vs then being a similar ratio to avg income.

1962 Cost of Living