**1980 vs 2025: Is Your Paycheck Actually Shrinking?**

Ironically, in 1980, the middle class could support a family, buy a house, and go on vacation with an income of $13,000 to $16,000 a year. Now? Even with an annual salary of $68,000, houses have become more than six times more expensive (from $64,600 to $410,000), and buying a car costs more than half of that annual salary.

Let's feel the specific numbers:
- Price-to-Income Ratio: In 1980 it was 3:1, now it is 5:1
- Bread has increased from 50 cents to $1.87, a rise of 377%.
- The new car jumped from $7557 (one-third of the annual salary) to $47000 (more than half of the annual salary)

Interestingly, in 1980, one job could support an entire family. Now, two jobs can barely keep up with the cost of living. Streaming subscriptions, smartphones, and air travel seem like standard features, but these "middle-class symbols" have instead made accounts tighter.

Conclusion? It's not that the middle class has disappeared, but that the cost of maintaining a middle-class lifestyle has exploded. Your salary has increased, but inflation has risen even faster. Stability has been replaced by convenience, at the cost of more debt and less security.