Been seeing a LOT of social media posts proclaiming that “boomers” (used as a degradatory term) had it “easy”, with low housing costs, low mortgage rates and low unemployment.
The data, however, paints a different perspective.
Note that generation labels, invented by Pew Research, are being phased out. The labels were intended as a concept of grouping people for marketing purposes, political analysis and so forth – but over time, their labels are increasingly used to divide people against one another. The variations within each group are also large – those at the beginning of the 18-yearlong “baby boom” have different values than those at the end. The different “generations” do not even encompass the same number of years – and are now largely arbitrary. Because of this, Pew plans to de-emphasize generation labels moving forward: How we plan to report on generations moving forward | Pew Research Center
In 1980, average wage was US $12,000/year
Mortgage rates were sky high
In fact, mortgage rates have generally average over 7% for most of the past 50+ years. They were low in the 1950s/early 1960s, and then again after The Great Recession of 2008-2010, hitting all time lows. Otherwise, today’s rates are back to the historical average.
Home Price Inflation Was High
Housing price inflation, 1967→2025
Home Prices Per Square Foot, inflation adjusted
Today’s homes are much larger than homes of the past
But Have Fewer Occupants Per Square Foot
New Homes Today Have Twice the Square Feet per Person as in 1973
Unemployment was sky high
Educational Attainment
Until the 1960s, less than half of Americans had a high school diploma.
