Housing prices are often referenced as a multiple of annual salary. IE a House could be bought for 3.5 times median Annual salary. Now you need 10 x median or 15 x median salary
This doesn't consider some of the other costs a family faced. To make a phone call STD (say Sydney to Melbourne) cost a considerable amount per minute, and phones were one per household. International calls? Whew - you better take out a loan!
Now, you can call anyone and talk to them for hours, even video calls with several for free.
For a boomer to own a complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica was considered a sign of extravagance. Now - you can have access to entire Libraries worth of books, in the palm of your hand. Want to learn about programming, how to service your lawnmower or an enterprise network server? Manuals and videos available on-line for free.
Travelling to Europe pre-1980? That was a serious once-in-a-lifetime investment. In 2019, a month European tour was just a post-HSC jaunt!
See a movie - once a week if you wanted to splurge - now, every night is cinema night! Save up to buy a record? I have more music on my phone than entire radio stations held in the 90s.
Our standard of living has rocketed in my lifetime - everything from flushing in-door dunnies to gigabit fibre-based internet to the home. I think comparing 1960s standard of living with 2023, you have to compare the pair fairly.
