Ballpark numbers (guesstimated by ChatGPT). In the 50s (after the ww2 explosion of the US industrial capacity) you came home after an 8 hour shift in a fridge making factory and had an income that could easily keep up 3 kids (including education), 2 cars, 1 stay at home wife and a house (like in The Simpsons). Since then the work productivity has risen 600% - 700%, yet the average income has risen less than 150% and the median icome less than 80%.