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Comment on 30 Days, 9 Cities, 1 Question: Where Did American Prosperity Go?parent

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There's some truth here, but it seems to be missin occum's razor. Homes got more expensive, income did not increase as fast.

You can say two things are happening at once. The line for minorities is moving up and the housing market is moving up faster (much faster). White people, moving up not as fast as either of the two. I still blame housing the most here, though.

Homes got more expensive, income did not increase as fast.

That's true, but not nearly so much so as people tend to believe. Median home price expressed as a fraction of household income is up about 38% since 1985: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1NXLF

That's significant, and worth talking about. But it's not justification for the ridiculous hyperbole people like to throw around on this. Note that median real income (where "real" means "inflation adjusted") is up by almost the same fraction over the same time period: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N Which is to say, impact on disposable income from housing costs is negligible, especially since so much other stuff is cheaper now.

So basically no: "I still blame housing the most here" is just wrong per the numbers.

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