08/29/2026
A $30,000 income in 1990 and an $80,000+ income today might sound like progress until you look at what happened to housing, college, and healthcare.
That’s where the comparison starts getting ugly.
Income went up.
But the cost of some of the biggest things families actually have to pay for went up a whole lot faster.
Homes became dramatically more expensive relative to income.
College costs climbed.
Healthcare costs exploded.
So when people say, “We made less back then and still figured it out,” they’re missing the part where the entire financial landscape changed.
It’s not that younger families suddenly forgot how to budget.
The numbers they’re dealing with are just a lot harder.
