by Bob Sparrow
With all this talk about tarrifs, recessions, continued high prices, I thought I’d share some information from an article I recently read about the cost of several things being less today than years ago. That was hard to believe, but we’ll examine that later. Generally, prices continue to rise as does income, but mostly not at the same pace. So, I did a little research of my own. I decide to look back to the year 1975. I picked that year mostly because it was easy math to go back 50 years.
In 1975 I was five years into my ten-year teaching career, at Tustin High School. I can’t remember what my salary was in 1975, but I do remember that when I left teaching in 1980 my salary was $19,000, yes, a year! Sounds ridiculously low, but I checked and the average salary in 1980 in all of Orange County was only $21,000.
In 1975, the average income in Orange County was $7,396; while today the average is $136,000 – that’s a growth of 18 times. But, the average price of an Orange County home in 1975 was $41,600, today it is $1.2 million – that’s a growth of 29 times! In 1975 the average home buyer was 29 years old, today it’s 38 years old. If you were going to rent a nice four-bedroom house instead of buy, in 1975 the rent would have been around $400 a month, today, closer to $5,000.
The average price of a new car in 1975 was $4,800 – just take that times 10 to get today average price. OK, I’ll do the math for you – $48,000. The price of everyday goods and services, as measured by the CPI, saw a 586% increase from 1973 to 2023. In other words, ‘Purchasing Power’ decreased; meaning that $13 in 1975 had the same buying power as approximately $83 in 2025.
OK, OK, enough with the numbers, where’s the information about how much cheaper things are today? Here you go . . .
Clothing: In 1975 the average American family spent about 10% to 12% of their household income on clothing. Today, that figure has dropped to around 3%. It’s not because people are buying less, it because more and more clothes come from out of the county, and thus cheaper. Same logic goes for toys that are now cheaper because most are made overseas.
Televisions: A ‘big’ screen TV in 1975 cost around $3,500. Today, a big screen TV with high-definition cost less than $500
Air fares: I only found the rate in 1941 for a fare from L.A. to Boston – $5,000! So, in ’75 maybe it was down to $2,500. Today you can find it for $300-$400
And, finally what you’ve all been waiting for, the price of . . .
Bananas: For those living during the Civil War, bananas were $3 a pound! In 1975 they dropped to .20 and today they are .55 a pound, so while bananas are cheaper than they were during the Civil War, they are more expensive today. But I kept them on the list for those Civil War vets.
So, if you’re looking to save money, go buy clothes to wear as you’re either flying from L.A. to Boston, or watching that new high-definition TV. Eating bananas while doing either is optional.