3 ms·

In 1970 a $300/month apartment would be ~$2000/month in today dollars. I do think rents are too high as productivity and supply chains are much more efficient.

In 1970 a $300/month apartment would be ~$2000/month in today dollars. I do think rents are too high as productivity and supply chains are much more efficient. I think in the 70s we were still using black pipe for gas, iron septic lines, and copper pipes for water. But, I don't think new builds or renovations are cheaper inflation adjusted (harder to estimate). Cost of money (inflation), building, and maintenance is the floor for rents.

selfmodruntime 4mo ago
The 1970's median salary was $800 (so rent was 37%), the 2026 equivalent is $5220 or 49%.
- forshaper 4mo ago
  Incidentally, the 1970s are when productivity kept rising, but typical worker pay stopped rising with it.
bantunes 4mo ago
How many apartments were $300/m in 1970?
- datadrivenangel 4mo ago
  Probably not many. The median rent reported in the census was 108. Per state breakouts: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/time-series/coh-grossrents/grossrents-unadj.txt https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/ti...
- jmclnx 4mo ago
  Very few, 300 USD was considered rather high in my area back then, maybe a house would be 300. That area is now in the top 5 expensive areas to rent. In the late 80s early 90s I was paying 350 USD for a 2 bedroom.
- Spooky23 4mo ago
  My parents bought the home we grew up in, which is located middle of Queens/NYC for ~$30k around 1977/8. It sold most recently for $3M. Rents were typically well under $300mo. $150 in not so great areas. That was a high inflation time though. Today, I live in a small city in a house I bought for about $200k 20 years ago. IIRC, it sold for $80k around 1992. Worth about $450k today. A decent 2BR apartment rents for like $2k here, a nice one >$2700.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
throwforfeds 4mo ago
Were apartments $300/month in the deep suburbs of cities though? Because I'm always surprised to hear my parents tell me rents for 1 bedrooms in the place I grew up in outside of Boston are in the $2-2.5k range (confirmed just now, not an affluent suburb). Census data seems to put the equivalent in Massachusetts at $120/month in 1970, which would be roughly $1k/month in 2026. $300/month in 1970 might even be high for what people were paying in Manhattan in 1970.
- michaelchisari 4mo ago
  In 1970, median rent was $108 a month, utilities included. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/08/archives/108-a-month-rent-was-median-in-1970.html https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/08/archives/108-a-month-rent...
- littlexsparkee 4mo ago
  It should be noted NYC nearly went bankrupt in the '70s, the Bronx was burning - I wonder if there's any studies that account for the share of the rent increase that's explained by the higher paid jobs, decrease in crime, etc. i.e. all the ways these places have changed materially since the reference point.
folkrav 4mo ago
Could have all the best reasons in the world,
pickleglitch 4mo ago
The median monthly rent for houses and apartments in the U.S. in 1970 was $108, or around $930 in today's dollars. So, in today's dollars, that would be $11,160/year. Median household income in 1970 was $9,870, or $84,714 in today's dollars. Median rent in the us today is around $1,750, or around $21,000/year. Today's median income in the us is around $89,000. So, housing cost has nearly doubled, while wages have only risen by about 5%. And that's just housing. I'm sure the math for healthcare and education costs is even more grim.
- encoderer 4mo ago
  You seem to be using family income and not household income for 1970. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEFAINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEFAINUSA672N
- treis 4mo ago
  What we spend on housing has doubled. That doesn't mean the cost has doubled. It means that we buy a lot more housing than we used to. Real estate cost is local and there are parts of america where the prices have gone nuts. But there's a lot more where it hasn't and housing is affordable.
  - selectodude 4mo ago
    Both are true. We’ve made cheap housing illegal and we’ve demanded ever higher quality housing. We need to allowed for revealed preferences. In developers we trust.
  - bluefirebrand 4mo ago
    > But there's a lot more where it hasn't and housing is affordable In many of those places salaries have been stagnant or work has dried up So we have a weird situation where someone living in a big city with a large salary is priced out of real estate by high prices, and someone living in a smaller city with more reasonable real estate prices is priced out by a lower income It's not universal of course, but it's a squeeze that a lot of people are feeling

selfmodruntime 4mo ago

The 1970's median salary was $800 (so rent was 37%), the 2026 equivalent is $5220 or 49%.

forshaper 4mo ago
Incidentally, the 1970s are when productivity kept rising, but typical worker pay stopped rising with it.

bantunes 4mo ago

How many apartments were $300/m in 1970?

datadrivenangel 4mo ago
Probably not many. The median rent reported in the census was 108. Per state breakouts: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/time-series/coh-grossrents/grossrents-unadj.txt https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/ti...
jmclnx 4mo ago
Very few, 300 USD was considered rather high in my area back then, maybe a house would be 300. That area is now in the top 5 expensive areas to rent. In the late 80s early 90s I was paying 350 USD for a 2 bedroom.
Spooky23 4mo ago
My parents bought the home we grew up in, which is located middle of Queens/NYC for ~$30k around 1977/8. It sold most recently for $3M. Rents were typically well under $300mo. $150 in not so great areas. That was a high inflation time though. Today, I live in a small city in a house I bought for about $200k 20 years ago. IIRC, it sold for $80k around 1992. Worth about $450k today. A decent 2BR apartment rents for like $2k here, a nice one >$2700.

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

throwforfeds 4mo ago

Were apartments $300/month in the deep suburbs of cities though? Because I'm always surprised to hear my parents tell me rents for 1 bedrooms in the place I grew up in outside of Boston are in the $2-2.5k range (confirmed just now, not an affluent suburb). Census data seems to put the equivalent in Massachusetts at $120/month in 1970, which would be roughly $1k/month in 2026. $300/month in 1970 might even be high for what people were paying in Manhattan in 1970.

michaelchisari 4mo ago
In 1970, median rent was $108 a month, utilities included. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/08/archives/108-a-month-rent-was-median-in-1970.html https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/08/archives/108-a-month-rent...
littlexsparkee 4mo ago
It should be noted NYC nearly went bankrupt in the '70s, the Bronx was burning - I wonder if there's any studies that account for the share of the rent increase that's explained by the higher paid jobs, decrease in crime, etc. i.e. all the ways these places have changed materially since the reference point.

folkrav 4mo ago

Could have all the best reasons in the world,

pickleglitch 4mo ago

The median monthly rent for houses and apartments in the U.S. in 1970 was $108, or around $930 in today's dollars. So, in today's dollars, that would be $11,160/year. Median household income in 1970 was $9,870, or $84,714 in today's dollars. Median rent in the us today is around $1,750, or around $21,000/year. Today's median income in the us is around $89,000. So, housing cost has nearly doubled, while wages have only risen by about 5%. And that's just housing. I'm sure the math for healthcare and education costs is even more grim.

encoderer 4mo ago
You seem to be using family income and not household income for 1970. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEFAINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEFAINUSA672N
treis 4mo ago
What we spend on housing has doubled. That doesn't mean the cost has doubled. It means that we buy a lot more housing than we used to. Real estate cost is local and there are parts of america where the prices have gone nuts. But there's a lot more where it hasn't and housing is affordable.
- selectodude 4mo ago
  Both are true. We’ve made cheap housing illegal and we’ve demanded ever higher quality housing. We need to allowed for revealed preferences. In developers we trust.
- bluefirebrand 4mo ago
  > But there's a lot more where it hasn't and housing is affordable In many of those places salaries have been stagnant or work has dried up So we have a weird situation where someone living in a big city with a large salary is priced out of real estate by high prices, and someone living in a smaller city with more reasonable real estate prices is priced out by a lower income It's not universal of course, but it's a squeeze that a lot of people are feeling