Counting Pennies

Just for fun, I thought I would research what things cost back then when I was born (1975). Some of the information is a little tricky. For example, how can you talk about the price of a car in a specific year? Is this the cheapest car available at the time? The average between the highest and the cheapest? The most popular car that year? It’s a little confusing. Some of the other numbers are frightening, including the difference in the cost of a house.

  1975

• Population: 215,973,199
• Life expectancy: 72.6 years
  Federal debt: $541.9 billion
• Inflation: 9.2%
• Unemployment: 5.6%
• Cost of a new home: $39,600
• Cost of a new car: $4,250.00
• Median Household Income: $14,800
• Minimum Wage: $2.10 per hour
• Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.10
• Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.57
• Cost of a gallon of milk: $1.57

                 2008

• Population: 303,146,284
• Life expectancy: 78 years
• Federal debt: $10 trillion
• Inflation: 5.5%
• Unemployment: 6.5%
• Cost of a new home: $264,000
• Cost of a new car: $11,000
• Median Household Income: $26,036
• Minimum Wage: $7.25 per hour
• Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.42
• Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $3.70
• Cost of a gallon of milk: $4.85

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