Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes

by Morgan Housel

Median family income adjusted for inflation was $29,000 in 1955. In 1965 it was $42,000. In 2021 it was $70,784. Life described the 1950s as prosperous in a way that would have seemed unbelievable to someone living in the 1920s. The same is true today—a 1950s family would have found it unfathomable that their grandchildren would earn more than twice as much as they did. And higher income wasn’t due to working more hours, or entirely due to women joining the workforce in greater numbers. Median hourly wages adjusted for inflation are nearly 50 percent higher today than in 1955. Some of today’s economic worries would have puzzled a 1950s family. The homeownership rate was 12 percentage points lower in 1950 than it is today. An average home was a third smaller than today’s, despite having more occupants. Food consumed 29 percent of an average household’s budget in 1950 versus 13 percent today. Workplace deaths were three times higher than today. That’s the economic era we long for? Yes. And it’s important to understand why. —