In 2024, median income for married couples with children at home was $143,400 in the US. That’s an almost 80 percent real (inflation-adjusted) increase since 1974, the first year Census reports comparable data. Is there some selection bias in who chooses to get married and have kids? Yes. Has there been an increase in dual-income families? Yes, but probably much less than you think (the median family of this type already had two earners by the late 1970s).
With those caveats, this is still pretty impressive:
Again, this is his entire, short post. I encourage you to follow his work at EWED and on X. He doesn’t disappoint.
Another great X follow is Jesús Fernández-Villaverde. He recently posted there on the growth in median human consumption:
In 2028, the median person on Earth will live on more than $10 a day for the first time in history (figures adjusted for inflation and for differences in purchasing power across countries). In the last decade alone, the share of people above this threshold has risen from 41.3% in 2016 (3.11 billion) to 48.7% in 2026 (4.03 billion). Think about that for a second: we have pushed nearly 900 million people over this threshold in ten years, around 90 million people a year (slightly above the population of Turkey).
Make no mistake about it (all too important in light of today’s infatuation with socialism), this is completely attributable to free market capitalism. When allowed and to the limited extent it has been allowed, the much maligned and misunderstood big C is the benefactor here.
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