[ajross]

They weren't possible. A quick Google says that median US home price in 1980 was $64k, and the average mortgage interest was 13.7%[1]. Plugging that into a loan calculator, assuming a 20% down payment and 30 year term, and I get a $600/month payment, almost the entirety of that worker's full time $4/hr salary.

Either the numbers here are spun or Orem was extraordinarily cheap.

[1] This was right in the middle of the inflation crisis!

[Scoundreller]

The author did admit that their salary almost covered their house payment, but didn't include any other expenses. And if they bought a few years ago before interest/inflation rates spiked, it's a more viable story.

[cryptoz]

As other commenters have noted, "median US home price" is not a relevant measure here, where their location would have much-lower-than-median prices.

[ajross]

> "median US home price" is not a relevant measure here

It certainly seems relevant to the discussion of "The things that were possible in 1980". Yes, it was possible to live more cheaply in the uninhabited exurbs of Utah in 1980. It's possible to do so in 2024 too!

Upthread commenter was clearly evoking the idea of the US economy for low wage workers having gotten "worse" in the last 40 years. Something that's (1) clearly not true in general given the data and (2) not even true in the specific situation evoked.

[topato]

I've never heard someone disagree with the obvious and universal concept that low wage workers prospects in the US being are a steep and multi-decade decline

[KerrAvon]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_Unite...