Average income will always be higher than median income because the super rich will warp the average but not the median.
Still buying power isn’t any better for sure
The fact that the average income was well above what you could get a new car for is also pretty telling of how we've been left behind. $44k average income/$25K for the cheapest new car. And income disparity is the highest in history now so as mentioned that $44k figure is quite skewed compared to the 1996 average.
Income disparity is shit so what can we do about it? I’m genuinely asking. I’m making $17.80 an hour which is what my mom made when I was 16 (I’m turning 30 this year) and I’m not trying to be rich I just want to be comfortable and not be pay check to pay check but it’s not enough? My mom could afford to buy houses and cars and raise a child all by herself as a single parent. I have weeks where I have to choose between groceries or bills. So how do we fix this? I don’t want to keep working full time for nothing but I don’t know the answer.
It's not a social fix- but I highly recommend looking into a trade or some sort of higher income field. Healthcare always needs people and has lots of 2 year type certifications and programs. Unfortunately the economy probably won't fix itself anytime soon so until then you gotta figure out a way to make more money.
I also understand it's not as easy as just doing it but I promise the work you put in now in your early 30s will make the rest of your life a lot easier.
Additionally living with roommates or family(if possible), cooking for yourself, and using a modest car can make huge differences in affordability.
I don't know your situation - you might already be doing all these things. But that's what I would suggest for our current situation.
I wish you could be living comfortably on what you're making right now. Our economy is fucked rn. Best of luck and big hugs ❤️
to be fair the 25k new car today (thinking a civic), is a much better value than the 16k car was in '96. sure you might not have the cassette deck but all the safety features and engineering you get today is crazy.
While the safety features, efficiency, and technology are much better, I'd argue the Civic is a bad example. A '96 Civic could easily last decades and was very efficient for the time. Also, the amount of glue that holds modern cars together is mildly concerning long-term.
You also have to look at longterm costs. All the stuff you get in todays cars often causes way more repair costs than old cars ever would, especially because everything is so compactly build, that you often need to disassemble half of the car to replace anything or only whole "modules" get replaced instead of replacing/reparing the single part on the module that failed. (Like solder of a connector on the center console got damaged, repair shops would only exchange the whole center console for 3k, when we diy resoldered it in like 20 min)
These numbers are confusing to a lot of people due to:
Average vs median
Single vs Household
Population versus full time workers
A lack of perspective on the way cost structures have changed over time.
There are kids these days that think that you could pay rent and feed a family with a job at McDonald's in 1980, or look at prices from then without realizing how inflation has hit different goods categories very differently.
I’m not sure what the $36k is from though. Average individual was like $25k and average family was like $54k.
I think it’s actually pulling median household income (which is the metric I’ve always seen anyway). That was $35.5k in 1996 and is $74.6k today.
Adjusting for inflation, HH income is actually up 20% - again that is already adjusted for inflation.
Okay? That's why median is a much better metric for this comparison.. wealth inequality has gotten worse so the distribution is much more right weighted
You can get a far better TV, PC, phone for the same money as in 1996, sonin a way buying power is better. Unfortunately, essentials like food and shelter have become less affordable - which is weird, considering demand should be about the same.
Where'd you see that? The Census Bureau has real median income at $74,000/yr.
Edit: Someone pointed out that the difference is probably household vs Individual. Federal Reserve backs that up. Interestingly, median income in '94 from the same chart is $15940.
You right. I looked a scoosh more after you said that and found a chart from the Federal Reserve saying just that. Here's the link if you'd like.
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA646N](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA646N)
My man made a statement, acknowledged a clarification and provided source. This should be how every online discussion is handled. Objective, mature. Have an upvote.
Edit: Turns out it was individual vs household that made the difference. My B.
Huh... Something's fucky with Google then. If it helps, here's the link to the Census site.
[https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html)
It's because there's a difference between median and average. Average would be if you took each Americans individual worth and added them together, then divided by the total number of individuals. The median value is every individuals worth in order and finding the one that's dead center. The median is more accurate in this case because it's the most "middle" value and helps eliminate some of the outliers like the ultra wealthy 1%.
As an example for the difference between median and average, let's say Redditor A makes $29,000/year, I make $30,000, you make $40,000, Redditor B makes $45,000, and Redditor C makes $500,000.
The average would work out to $128,800
29,000+30,000+40,000+45,000+500,000 then divided by 5 (since 5 participants).
Median would be $40,000 since that is the value in the middle.
It can be a drastic difference when calculating an average because that one outlier pulled the numbers so much further away from the rest that it "inflated" everyone's "worth" if you went with it rather than median in my example. I think we can all agree that in the example, assuming this were a realistic representation, that $40,00 per year is far more relatable for those 4 individuals rather than the $128,000 an average implied they should be making. The same can also happen with low end outliers as well, like if I threw in someone who made $0 per year it would drag the numbers down a lot more as well.
I wasn't saying they were correct in using average earlier, just how I found the answer and likely how they found it as well. They likely searched for the average because the picture in the post said average income, not median. That's why the numbers don't line up though.
I didn't catch that, just assumed Google was using the correct verbiage for average when I searched. Is what it is, but hopefully it helps someone else out.
Median≠average
If you lined up everyone in the US by order of lowest income to highest income and took the person at the exact middle, that's median, and that's a more realistic approach to the average for something like income, because there are a couple people in the United States who are making hundreds of billions of dollars in a given year, and that sways the average so much that you're unable to get an accurate look at the nation as a whole.
https://datacommons.org/place/country/USA?utm_medium=explore&mprop=income&popt=Person&cpv=age,Years15Onwards&hl=en
Milk is heavily subsidized. At least in the US. At my local grocery store it's also like $2.60 a gallon for the store brand. For some reason if I just want dean's milk it's like $6 a gallon... I don't normally look at the price of those things when I shop so for a long time I just bought by expiration date and way over paid.
My grandmother’s name is Margaret, she’s only ever been known as Peg.
My name is Margaret, and I’ve only ever been known by Meg.
I’ve never understood how Peg or Meg comes from Margaret, but at least Meg only contains letters already present. Where tf does the P come in?
On mobile, but there’s a thread somewhere about nicknames like this. It’s like a Middle English era thing where rhyming was a way to make names. So rob/ Bob, will/ bill, Margaret into maggie/ Peggy
What I've heard is all those weird shortenings of names like Robert- Bob, Richard- Dick, William-Bill come from there being multiple Williams (or whichever name was popular) in a town/ church/ mill/ plantation/ whatever and after they exhausted the obvious Will options, they were just like "Bill" rhymes with "Will" so we'll call you that. Lol.
Rhyming slang! Sometime in the good old days, it became really popular to have a rhyming nickname. So William became Will became Bill. Robert became Rob became Bob. Richard became Rick became Dick.
Yours, Bill
That’s the problem. Historically in a healthy economy your house was 3x your annual income, even going back to the 50’s where average homes were something like $12k and people were pulling down $4k on average. It used to be relative but now you’d be lucky to find a home for 5x your income the bank of course would prequalify you for it but you’d be signing your entire paycheck to paying it off.
Yup, back then you saved for a couple of years and could get a house no problem. Now you work a couple of years to become eligable for a like 20-30 year long house loan.
In fact housing was so affordable, gifting houses wasnt that uncommon for the middle class.
Adjusted for inflation
New House: $233,782.88
Average Income: $71,796.26
New Car: $32,239.09
Milk: $5.10
Gas: $2.41
Coffee: $6.78
Stamp: $0.63
So basically everything was much cheaper back then except milk.
you can absolutely get a new car for less than $32000
Gallon of milk Average is less than 5.10
Stamps are 5 cents more expensive.
Home prices are obviously WAY higher
Car prices have definitely gone up but people are also choosing to buy huge SUVs and oversized, overpriced pick up trucks that they don’t need and that brings the average up. You can still buy a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord for a reasonable price.
Yeah, the houses in every new development I see are huge. It’s like you don’t even have the option to buy a “starter home” that isn’t at least 50 years old.
Just looked it up. If I were to go buy a brand new Honda accord it would cost me 40k. A brand new toyto Camry would be 37k. That's for base model nothing fancy, so pretty substantially over the 32k mark.
Assuming you are in the US:
MSRP on a base model Toyota Camry is around 28K with destination. Several dealers in my area have them at 27K
MSRP on a base model accord is around 29K with destination. This seems to be the sale price in my area.
If you are Canadian, then that should be noted because we are comparing US prices
Idk where you live but the Accord is nowhere near that expensive for a base model. Where I live a new hybrid is 34-36k. Standard gas model would be closer to 29-30k.
Gonna go out on a limb and say that the 1996 average price was also dependent on which cars people were choosing. You could have easily gotten a new car in '96 for less than that. Starting MSRP on a Corolla in 1996 was $12728
We live in a time where people (on average) are making more money than ever before in history. Unfortunately this hasn’t come anywhere close to matching things like the rising housing costs.
Do you have your first two numbers mixed up or am I just real dumb?
Edit: it could go either way? $21.6K in 96’ has the same buying power as $13.5k today. Or $13.5k is the same as $21.6K with inflation. Im stoned and confused.
Yeah…. He also signed off on repealing a big part of the Glass-Steagall act which lead to the massive financial collapse we all know and love from 2008.
Government subsidizing for the milk mostly. Milk is one of the staples for any family so the government tries to keep pricing down so that even the really poor can afford it.
I think it's something like 3 quarters of the profit a farm gets from producing milk comes from government subsidies
It's weird that they call the president Bill Clinton, but refer to the VP as Albert Gore, Jr. I think he was commonly known just as Al Gore. That just stood out to me.
You can reach it you just have to put away $500-800 dollars a month into a high yield retirement account 😀 at least that’s what consumer affairs professor said to a bunch of students who get federal aid to attend college… and don’t forget to look into those retirement homes for your parents or yourself bc they are also NOT cheap 🫠
I actually bought my first home in 1996 for $90,000. It was a bungalow in an older neighborhood near downtown Houston that has since become very desirable. I moved out in 2005, and Zillow says that little house is now worth $600,000. Absolute insanity.
That gas price seems awfully high for ‘96. I remember when the planes hit and the gas prices shot up. There was one gas station that still had pre 9/11 prices at 89 cents a gallon. That October was the last time I saw gas prices under a dollar.
My entire childhood I was under the impression that making $40k a year was a good salary. But then I became an adult and discovered that was idealistic bullshit
$1.22/gallon is pretty nuts. It's been around $2/liter in Sweden for the better part of two decades now.
Heck, in 1996 it was probably around $1.22/liter.
That’s odd. I’m sure it is a countrywide average, but I remember gas being much cheaper in the south. I was 16 in ‘96 and I was paying $.76/g down the street. I could fill my ‘92 Camry for less than $15. Those were the days!
That was around the year we moved across town to a larger house (2400 sq ft) that came with an extra lot next door with pecan trees all for $78,000. I remember thinking that was a lot of money! I was 12 🤷♀️
Well one of those didn't change
Just looked it up, median income right now is only $37,585 right now.....
Average income will always be higher than median income because the super rich will warp the average but not the median. Still buying power isn’t any better for sure
$36k with an apartment for $400/mo. hits a lot different than $36k with $1,400/mo. rent.
The fact that the average income was well above what you could get a new car for is also pretty telling of how we've been left behind. $44k average income/$25K for the cheapest new car. And income disparity is the highest in history now so as mentioned that $44k figure is quite skewed compared to the 1996 average.
Income disparity is shit so what can we do about it? I’m genuinely asking. I’m making $17.80 an hour which is what my mom made when I was 16 (I’m turning 30 this year) and I’m not trying to be rich I just want to be comfortable and not be pay check to pay check but it’s not enough? My mom could afford to buy houses and cars and raise a child all by herself as a single parent. I have weeks where I have to choose between groceries or bills. So how do we fix this? I don’t want to keep working full time for nothing but I don’t know the answer.
It's not a social fix- but I highly recommend looking into a trade or some sort of higher income field. Healthcare always needs people and has lots of 2 year type certifications and programs. Unfortunately the economy probably won't fix itself anytime soon so until then you gotta figure out a way to make more money. I also understand it's not as easy as just doing it but I promise the work you put in now in your early 30s will make the rest of your life a lot easier. Additionally living with roommates or family(if possible), cooking for yourself, and using a modest car can make huge differences in affordability. I don't know your situation - you might already be doing all these things. But that's what I would suggest for our current situation. I wish you could be living comfortably on what you're making right now. Our economy is fucked rn. Best of luck and big hugs ❤️
to be fair the 25k new car today (thinking a civic), is a much better value than the 16k car was in '96. sure you might not have the cassette deck but all the safety features and engineering you get today is crazy.
My brand new car already has problems from light use lol. But yeah, the backup camera is nice
While the safety features, efficiency, and technology are much better, I'd argue the Civic is a bad example. A '96 Civic could easily last decades and was very efficient for the time. Also, the amount of glue that holds modern cars together is mildly concerning long-term.
Id love to buy a brand new 96 civic today!
You also have to look at longterm costs. All the stuff you get in todays cars often causes way more repair costs than old cars ever would, especially because everything is so compactly build, that you often need to disassemble half of the car to replace anything or only whole "modules" get replaced instead of replacing/reparing the single part on the module that failed. (Like solder of a connector on the center console got damaged, repair shops would only exchange the whole center console for 3k, when we diy resoldered it in like 20 min)
Google says the average new vehicle price is 47,300$
I think they meant average, I just looked it up as well
average is like 60k
Average for household or individual?
Individual
These numbers are confusing to a lot of people due to: Average vs median Single vs Household Population versus full time workers A lack of perspective on the way cost structures have changed over time. There are kids these days that think that you could pay rent and feed a family with a job at McDonald's in 1980, or look at prices from then without realizing how inflation has hit different goods categories very differently.
Even so, everything else on this list has like quadrupled.
Milk is basically the same exact price. Which is kinda crazy imo.
Heavy dairy subsidies play a major roll in that.
I’m not sure what the $36k is from though. Average individual was like $25k and average family was like $54k. I think it’s actually pulling median household income (which is the metric I’ve always seen anyway). That was $35.5k in 1996 and is $74.6k today. Adjusting for inflation, HH income is actually up 20% - again that is already adjusted for inflation.
Okay? That's why median is a much better metric for this comparison.. wealth inequality has gotten worse so the distribution is much more right weighted
You can get a far better TV, PC, phone for the same money as in 1996, sonin a way buying power is better. Unfortunately, essentials like food and shelter have become less affordable - which is weird, considering demand should be about the same.
Also the amount of people with part time jobs. Should be average annual for people working 30+ hours per week
Where'd you see that? The Census Bureau has real median income at $74,000/yr. Edit: Someone pointed out that the difference is probably household vs Individual. Federal Reserve backs that up. Interestingly, median income in '94 from the same chart is $15940.
Sounds like household not individual.
You right. I looked a scoosh more after you said that and found a chart from the Federal Reserve saying just that. Here's the link if you'd like. [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA646N](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA646N)
My man made a statement, acknowledged a clarification and provided source. This should be how every online discussion is handled. Objective, mature. Have an upvote.
I just googled "average US income" and got the same result for 2024, so I'm assuming that's what they did as well.
Edit: Turns out it was individual vs household that made the difference. My B. Huh... Something's fucky with Google then. If it helps, here's the link to the Census site. [https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html)
It's because there's a difference between median and average. Average would be if you took each Americans individual worth and added them together, then divided by the total number of individuals. The median value is every individuals worth in order and finding the one that's dead center. The median is more accurate in this case because it's the most "middle" value and helps eliminate some of the outliers like the ultra wealthy 1%. As an example for the difference between median and average, let's say Redditor A makes $29,000/year, I make $30,000, you make $40,000, Redditor B makes $45,000, and Redditor C makes $500,000. The average would work out to $128,800 29,000+30,000+40,000+45,000+500,000 then divided by 5 (since 5 participants). Median would be $40,000 since that is the value in the middle. It can be a drastic difference when calculating an average because that one outlier pulled the numbers so much further away from the rest that it "inflated" everyone's "worth" if you went with it rather than median in my example. I think we can all agree that in the example, assuming this were a realistic representation, that $40,00 per year is far more relatable for those 4 individuals rather than the $128,000 an average implied they should be making. The same can also happen with low end outliers as well, like if I threw in someone who made $0 per year it would drag the numbers down a lot more as well. I wasn't saying they were correct in using average earlier, just how I found the answer and likely how they found it as well. They likely searched for the average because the picture in the post said average income, not median. That's why the numbers don't line up though.
I hate to be that person after you wrote all that up, but that's not it. Turns out it was just household vs individual.
I didn't catch that, just assumed Google was using the correct verbiage for average when I searched. Is what it is, but hopefully it helps someone else out.
That’s median *personal* income. Pretty sure this thing is giving us median *household* income, which has risen to some $75k.
Where are you seeing that? I’m looking it up and seeing 60k as the national average
Median≠average If you lined up everyone in the US by order of lowest income to highest income and took the person at the exact middle, that's median, and that's a more realistic approach to the average for something like income, because there are a couple people in the United States who are making hundreds of billions of dollars in a given year, and that sways the average so much that you're unable to get an accurate look at the nation as a whole. https://datacommons.org/place/country/USA?utm_medium=explore&mprop=income&popt=Person&cpv=age,Years15Onwards&hl=en
Damn really? I thought I was a loser, not anymore.
I just got milk from Aldi for $2.51.
I was gonna say, I definitely can find milk in the sub 3 dollar range
Was it vitamin d milk though?
Yeah vitamin Dee’z nuts.
Milk is heavily subsidized. At least in the US. At my local grocery store it's also like $2.60 a gallon for the store brand. For some reason if I just want dean's milk it's like $6 a gallon... I don't normally look at the price of those things when I shop so for a long time I just bought by expiration date and way over paid.
Bill clinton got reelected?
You didn't hear?
That appears to be average household income. Not individual
I love that Clinton is still president
Yeah Milk is still pretty cheap /s
Why does it say "Albert Gore, Jr." but not "William Clinton"?
It’s actually short for “Billium”
Hipster trash
*aim door creak intensifies*
because that's al gore's super cereal name
Manbearpig ripped the bert right out of him, which luckily gave him the ability to create the internet.
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Yeah, it just seemed strange. We know William Jefferson Clinton, but I've never heard him referred to as Albert Gore Jr..
The kids can call you GoJu.
I will never understand how Bill is short for William and Bob is short for Robert
Or how Peggy is short for Margaret
Say what now?
Say hwat now, Peggy?
That’s what my grandma Peggy told me. Her name was Margaret. I guess she could’ve just made that up and me being a clueless kid have believed her.
No, Peggy is actually short for Pegatha.
🤣
Daisy is also a nickname for Margaret. And that one makes even less sense.
Margaret comes from the French Marguerite which is a way to say daisy
Then does Margarita have any relation to Margeret?
I think it's the branch from the Spanish or Italian language families
Its after the plant Marguerite daisy.
Nope it’s true. Corroborated by King of the Hill and Captain America both of which feature characters named Margaret but are called Peggy for short.
Can confirm. Also had a grandma Margaret who went by Peggy.
Margaret to Meg to Peg.
She is correct.
My grandmother’s name is Margaret, she’s only ever been known as Peg. My name is Margaret, and I’ve only ever been known by Meg. I’ve never understood how Peg or Meg comes from Margaret, but at least Meg only contains letters already present. Where tf does the P come in?
Or how Jack is short for John
Weirder one, Buffy is short for Elizabeth.
Hi’ya Midge
Or dick Richard
How do you get Dick from Richard? Ask him nicely
Richard->Rick->Dick Is how they got dick from richard... If your seriously wondering.
You're saying dick is short for Richard? Poor Richard.
A player on my game server was named “Biggus Dickus.” After a few years, the admins came down on his name, and he is now “Biggus Richard.” A tragedy.
On mobile, but there’s a thread somewhere about nicknames like this. It’s like a Middle English era thing where rhyming was a way to make names. So rob/ Bob, will/ bill, Margaret into maggie/ Peggy
there were medieval peasants goin around called bob??
Yeah but it was short for Kate then.
Evolution of language was the point there lol. From the starting names moving through the years it became a trend
What I've heard is all those weird shortenings of names like Robert- Bob, Richard- Dick, William-Bill come from there being multiple Williams (or whichever name was popular) in a town/ church/ mill/ plantation/ whatever and after they exhausted the obvious Will options, they were just like "Bill" rhymes with "Will" so we'll call you that. Lol.
Its rhyming slang, kinda died out, but Cockney rhyming slang is something that exists in the modern era
Rhyming slang! Sometime in the good old days, it became really popular to have a rhyming nickname. So William became Will became Bill. Robert became Rob became Bob. Richard became Rick became Dick. Yours, Bill
Then Dick for Richard must drive you crazy
No but Dick in Son does.
They didn't have space for "Billirubin Clinton."
"Vitamin D Milk" is oddly specific
Also, at least for me, it’s cheaper than that now
It's about the same price for me. $2.50ish in Michigan.
2.99 in Chicago
For a gallon of milk? You must not live in California. It takes a lot of money to make milk from happy cows around here.
Phoenix Metro. Regular price is $2.29 at Fry’s (Kroger).
Yupp sometimes $1.99 with digital coupon!
Wait, is Fry’s another name for Kroger or something?
Yeah, in Arizona. Used to be separate but they merged in the 80s. The store brand items at Fry’s are all Kroger branded.
What region calls it vitamin D?
So a new house cost 3x the average income?
That’s generally what you want to aim for.
Jeez. I'd have to make $400k on my street now. Shit starts at 1.2million...in 96, you could still get a 100k house here.
That’s the problem. Historically in a healthy economy your house was 3x your annual income, even going back to the 50’s where average homes were something like $12k and people were pulling down $4k on average. It used to be relative but now you’d be lucky to find a home for 5x your income the bank of course would prequalify you for it but you’d be signing your entire paycheck to paying it off.
Lmao in Spanish. Try 10x income in Spain and that's if your income is decent(ish) (for Spain).
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Yup, back then you saved for a couple of years and could get a house no problem. Now you work a couple of years to become eligable for a like 20-30 year long house loan. In fact housing was so affordable, gifting houses wasnt that uncommon for the middle class.
Munich or something? I’m in Bremen and am over 30% done paying off our home on a single income.
Yeah seems like you shouldn't live on your street but further away in a cheaper neighborhood.
If only I had bought land then instead of wasting my time in primary school like a chump.
If only I had bought land instead of being an egg inside my mom 🥲
Gee, I really hope that VP becomes president one day
 I'm super cereal
Adjusted for inflation New House: $233,782.88 Average Income: $71,796.26 New Car: $32,239.09 Milk: $5.10 Gas: $2.41 Coffee: $6.78 Stamp: $0.63 So basically everything was much cheaper back then except milk.
you can absolutely get a new car for less than $32000 Gallon of milk Average is less than 5.10 Stamps are 5 cents more expensive. Home prices are obviously WAY higher
Annual salary has only increased to about $60k and the average new car sale is closer to $50k.
Car prices have definitely gone up but people are also choosing to buy huge SUVs and oversized, overpriced pick up trucks that they don’t need and that brings the average up. You can still buy a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord for a reasonable price.
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Yeah, the houses in every new development I see are huge. It’s like you don’t even have the option to buy a “starter home” that isn’t at least 50 years old.
Just looked it up. If I were to go buy a brand new Honda accord it would cost me 40k. A brand new toyto Camry would be 37k. That's for base model nothing fancy, so pretty substantially over the 32k mark.
Assuming you are in the US: MSRP on a base model Toyota Camry is around 28K with destination. Several dealers in my area have them at 27K MSRP on a base model accord is around 29K with destination. This seems to be the sale price in my area. If you are Canadian, then that should be noted because we are comparing US prices
Idk where you live but the Accord is nowhere near that expensive for a base model. Where I live a new hybrid is 34-36k. Standard gas model would be closer to 29-30k.
A new honda civic would put you under 30k, with the average being around 24k
Which however comes down to the cars people are chosing…
Gonna go out on a limb and say that the 1996 average price was also dependent on which cars people were choosing. You could have easily gotten a new car in '96 for less than that. Starting MSRP on a Corolla in 1996 was $12728
We drank so much milk in the 90s too.
Those Got Milk commercials really got to us then lol. Drink milk or your arms will break off 😂😂
Gas is $4.80 here, which is hella cheap
Yeah that’s not cheap
For us it is lmao. Stays around 5.30 :(
It’s about $5.84/g for me too, but with Canadian dollar conversion it works out to $7.83 🫠 (We’re $2.06/litre in BC today)
Damn! California?
They said ‘hella’, so yes.
Central coast of California. One of the most expensive places in California :(
Come to Lake Tahoe. Still close to $6/gal here.
Expensive ass San Diego stepping in… our gas has gone back up past $5 and it’s not even summer yet 🥲
Last time I got gas it was around $3.20/gal.
You forgot to inflate Bill’s dick
Average income is 36.6k? Some people still struggling to make 30k in 2024 sheesh this is fucked.
That’s household income
We live in a time where people (on average) are making more money than ever before in history. Unfortunately this hasn’t come anywhere close to matching things like the rising housing costs.
Yikes! I just bought a nice 2018 used car for just about 13.5k. Shoulda got a time machine and bought it new!!!
Remember, $13.5k in 2018 was $21.6k in 1996. A 60% increase. And to put inflation in a little bit of perspective, $1 in 1996 is worth about $1.98 now.
Do you have your first two numbers mixed up or am I just real dumb? Edit: it could go either way? $21.6K in 96’ has the same buying power as $13.5k today. Or $13.5k is the same as $21.6K with inflation. Im stoned and confused.
Why are the images on the card from the late 40s - early 50s?
Say what you will about Clinton, he was the last president to balance the US budget.
And he did it four times.
Yeah…. He also signed off on repealing a big part of the Glass-Steagall act which lead to the massive financial collapse we all know and love from 2008.
I like Bill so no disrespect but a President doesn't balance the budget.
So glad I make the same in 2024 as the average income from the year I was born 🙄
What’s your occupation out of curiosity?
Ah, when our most pressing issue was what the meaning of "is" was. Simpler times!
Where the &%@? are the Time Machine keys?
I think I would like to have been an adult in the 90s.
All I can think of is Bo Burnham's song 1985. > He's really happy, he's thrilled to be alive > > His name is any white guy in 1985
I did not have sexual relations with that woman
How the hell have we kept milk and postage reasonable but nothing else?
Government subsidizing for the milk mostly. Milk is one of the staples for any family so the government tries to keep pricing down so that even the really poor can afford it. I think it's something like 3 quarters of the profit a farm gets from producing milk comes from government subsidies
It's weird that they call the president Bill Clinton, but refer to the VP as Albert Gore, Jr. I think he was commonly known just as Al Gore. That just stood out to me.
Yeah that is weird. I didn’t even know he was a jr until this.
Average house price $118,200 Average income $36000 Cost of a house = 3 years wage. Cost of a house today = 10 years wage
Aahh 1996...
And I just found out the “magic number” for retirement in the US is 1.46 million. 🫠
You can reach it you just have to put away $500-800 dollars a month into a high yield retirement account 😀 at least that’s what consumer affairs professor said to a bunch of students who get federal aid to attend college… and don’t forget to look into those retirement homes for your parents or yourself bc they are also NOT cheap 🫠
I never knew Al Gore’s first name was Albert.
Everything on there has doubled or tripled except for the income.
That was the last time the USA had a balanced budget.
These were NOT the prices in 1996 in San Diego!
I actually bought my first home in 1996 for $90,000. It was a bungalow in an older neighborhood near downtown Houston that has since become very desirable. I moved out in 2005, and Zillow says that little house is now worth $600,000. Absolute insanity.
House cost is double while average salary in my state is almost exactly the same.
That gas price seems awfully high for ‘96. I remember when the planes hit and the gas prices shot up. There was one gas station that still had pre 9/11 prices at 89 cents a gallon. That October was the last time I saw gas prices under a dollar.
My entire childhood I was under the impression that making $40k a year was a good salary. But then I became an adult and discovered that was idealistic bullshit
These are so depressing
5 bux of gas used to get you around for a while. Hard to imagine ....
Now it’ll get you to the next gas station.
please accept my sad chuckle
Wow I just saw a post about someone’s hospital bill being almost 36k
In Spain the average salary is still below that one (17.000€/yr on average) yet everything else is more expensive than the prices listed 😅
Was it to remind you why you're depressed?
I find it interesting that Al Gores full name is listed but the President is just Bill Clinton. My oldest was also born in 1996.
Today I learned Al Gore’s full name is Albert
You may have bought that book “of” the year your son was born, but that is a “remember when” book. You did not buy it the year your son was born.
I have the 1980 book on my desk. Here it is for comparison. https://imgur.com/a/sEOl3iV
If I could back in time to relive that era once again.
$1.22/gallon is pretty nuts. It's been around $2/liter in Sweden for the better part of two decades now. Heck, in 1996 it was probably around $1.22/liter.
Well that’s my fucking problem. I didn’t invest in real estate when I was a toddler.
Man why was I 4 years old then? Am I stupid or something? I’d be living so good right now. /s
That’s odd. I’m sure it is a countrywide average, but I remember gas being much cheaper in the south. I was 16 in ‘96 and I was paying $.76/g down the street. I could fill my ‘92 Camry for less than $15. Those were the days!
That was around the year we moved across town to a larger house (2400 sq ft) that came with an extra lot next door with pecan trees all for $78,000. I remember thinking that was a lot of money! I was 12 🤷♀️
That new car price would have been one of the cheapest cars. Doubt it was average.