The Price Changes Of Goods Compared To Wages In The US Over The Past 30 Years, Visualized

In an ideal world, the increase in prices of essential goods and services would be roughly commensurate with the increase in wages for workers. Unfortunately, we do not live in that world.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the St Louis Fed database, Reddit user u/kuharido has mapped the Consumer Price Index of a few chosen goods and services over the past 30 years and compared them to the changes in the average hourly wages in the US. As you can see from the chart, while the prices of certain goods, such as televisions, have fallen since 1990, some prices have risen astronomically — most notably college tuition and hospital services:

While the average hourly wage has increased by 130% since 1990, hospital services have increased by a staggering 312%. That figure doesn't seem too surprising, especially given how exorbitantly high healthcare costs in the US these days. The same goes for tuition: according to the chart, college tuition has increased by 395% for the past thirty years.

By comparison, some goods have actually decreased in prices, although things get a bit more nuanced here, and it's perhaps more accurate to say, with TVs for instance, that they are getting bigger and cheaper by inch.

[Via Reddit]