MoneyGeek analyzed housing, income and inflation data for all 50 states to compare and contrast homebuying climates in the 1980s and today. This infographic shows the widening gap between the median American household income and median home prices, from 1985 to 2025. Explore which generation paid the most for housing in the US with insights into historical prices, wages, and affordability trends.
Links to government documents and primary sources listing retail prices for products and services, as well as wages for common occupations. Try 1989 data: (9-24 GenX) Median home price was $120,000. Median salary was 29k.
A home was 4.13 years of salary. Interest rates for mortgages? 10.25%. Median house mortgage? 35.5% of income.
Then you had property taxes, etc to drive those costs UP. These are the "first house" years. Try 1999 data (19-34 GenX): Salary 36,476.
Home price: 184,200. Housing Costs in 1980 Housing was a major component of the average cost of living in 1980. The median home price was about $62,000, while the average monthly rent hovered around $290.
This affordability relative to today was due to several factors including the inflation rate being lower in earlier years, and different lending practices. Interest rates, however, spiked dramatically in the. The median price of a new home these days is about $426,000, according to U.S.
Census Bureau data. Looking back at 1980, the median new home cost more like $68,000. Looking at prices and income alone, houses have gradually become less affordable over the past 40 years.
In 1985, the median household income in the United States was $23,620. This calculator uses the official Consumer Price Index for Housing from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Housing costing $100,000 in 1980 would cost $431,754.50 in 2026. 1. The Average Home Price in 1980 In 1980, the average home price in the United States was about $47,200, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau. That number might sound shockingly low compared to today's median home price, which hovers around $400,000.