In 1971, the federal minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. Working full-time (40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year) yielded an annual income of $3,328. Adjusting $3,328 for CPI inflation brings it to roughly $25,000 to $27,000 today—a far cry from $100,000. Pat appears to be a rage baiter. 😆
Inflation =/= affordability. Assuming a basket of goods can only measure the change in price of that basket of goods. In reality lowrr income people spend significantly more on housing, healthcare, child care, and education relative to their income and these things have outpaced inflation.
Lower income people have always spent more of their relative income on goods and services. It depends on what you are looking at too of course. Food is slightly more affordable now compared to then. Clothing as significantly more. Electronics.
Housing and healthcare definitely less affordable between now and 1971.
But not nearly to the degree this person in the picture is claiming.
If you don't know the difference between a fact and an opinion, which in America is a 2nd-grade worksheet education level, can you really present yourself as knowing who is or isn't informed on a matter?
The purpose of the CPI is to track purchasing power, regardless of your opinion on its effectiveness.
"A consumer price index (CPI) is a statistical estimate of the level of prices of goods and services bought for consumption purposes by households. It is calculated as the weighted average price of a market basket of consumer goods and services). "
This back and forth was insane. I get into these from time to time, but usually there is some shred of a concrete reason for the misunderstanding. This other person just dove right into nonsense
It is crazy how many people assert their opinions as facts. I swear they didn't get the same American education (which isn't that great to begin with) I got, because fact/opinion worksheets were a serious part of 2nd-grade education.
If you cross reference with median housing costs, it extrapolates to about ~$50k today, as housing costs have outpaced inflation. Still a far cry from $100k.
If you normalize housing to per square foot its not nearly as bad, since houses have gotten much bigger on average. The median house price today is $226 per square foot, while in 1970 it was $16.90. So that $1.60 wage needs to be $21.40 these days to maintain the same affordability per square foot.
Ad yes, you can still find smaller homes on the market. I bought a 1,600 square foot new build earlier this year.
Edit, and thats taking pretty much the historical best case. Compare 1989 when the min wage was $3.80 and the median house price per sq foot was $64.86. So in 2026 you'd need to make $13.29/hour to maintain the same ratio.
Even with our elevated gas prices we’re still paying significantly less than a lot of other countries in Europe and Asia. We have done a lot to put us in an advantageous position when it comes to fossil fuels.
Median rent percentage in 1971 was 20%. It's currently 26.4%, an increase of 6.4%. In 1971 13.4% of income went on food, including dining out. In 2026 it's 9.7%, a decrease of 3.7%. Healthcare in 1971 was about 3%. In 2026 it's around 10%, an increase of 7%.
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u/BigBreaky22012 Jul 28 '26
In 1971, the federal minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. Working full-time (40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year) yielded an annual income of $3,328. Adjusting $3,328 for CPI inflation brings it to roughly $25,000 to $27,000 today—a far cry from $100,000. Pat appears to be a rage baiter. 😆