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Old 01-27-2021, 09:53 AM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,318 posts, read 80,617,609 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rkcarguy View Post
Washington State, west side. We have a severe housing problem here. This year, average household income just broke $50K/year. Average listed home price up 16.7% to $661,000. It's a worse income/home cost ratio than San Francisco.
Where is that in Western WA? You are right about the housing problem, but both figures seem really low compared to cities around here:

Median Household Income/Home Price

Seattle $93,481/$715,000
Sammamish $168,000/$990,000
Issaquah $101,508/$785,000
Redmond $123,449/$915,000
Kirkland $109,715/$910,000
Renton $74,756/$525,000
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Old 01-27-2021, 12:32 PM
 
1,571 posts, read 1,117,044 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Concert D Major View Post
How many Big Macs could you buy today with 1 hour's worth of work at today's minimum wage?

- versus -

How many could you buy back in the day for the same 1 hour of work at minimum wage back then?
Kinda unfair to compare them. If the dollar amount increases to create the burger (which at minimum wage it likely would) then you will be able to buy fewer burgers. I'm not sure it would scale in an A/B comparison.
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Old 01-27-2021, 12:46 PM
 
19,606 posts, read 17,892,755 times
Reputation: 17136
Quote:
Originally Posted by RationalExpectations View Post
I prefer the ketchup packet index. You know, the ketchup packets for your fries.

Ketchup packets at McDonalds in 1967: Free.
Ketchup packets at McDonalds in 2021: Free.


Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?
Bravo!
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Old 01-27-2021, 12:48 PM
 
19,606 posts, read 17,892,755 times
Reputation: 17136
Quote:
Originally Posted by rkcarguy View Post
Washington State, west side. We have a severe housing problem here. This year, average household income just broke $50K/year. Average listed home price up 16.7% to $661,000. It's a worse income/home cost ratio than San Francisco.
I'd agree many housing markets in your state are getting out of hand.
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Old 01-27-2021, 04:21 PM
 
16,374 posts, read 30,162,208 times
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When I started working, I was making $2.65/hr and a Big Mac was about $1.20 in 1978. Of course, we never ate at McDonalds as you could head to Burger Chef and get a $0.39 hamburger and load it up with toppings. Back then, nearly all meals were eaten at home unless you were fortunate to work at a restaurant and could get your meals free.

Eventually free meals went away due to a court decision that challenged their deductibility.

For the record, in the 1970s, you were lucky to get a job at McDonalds as they received about 20-30 applications per position.And then they sould cap you at 30 hours. I was lucky to work for a competitor where I could get 50 hours a week.
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Old 01-27-2021, 04:45 PM
 
Location: In the North
335 posts, read 165,729 times
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Big Mac's eventually transitioned from real beef to ?? Macs were $1.79 when I worked at McDonalds in High School in 1987 earning $3.50 per hr.
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Old 01-27-2021, 05:06 PM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,656 posts, read 57,755,120 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jetgraphics View Post
1965 prices : Burger $0.15, Fries $0.15, Beverage $0.10
$1.65 minimum wage.
must have been a regional minimum wage, as...
The minimum wage went to $1.00 an hour effective February 1967 for newly covered nonfarm workers, $1.15 in February 1968, $1.30 in February 1969, $1.45 in February 1970, and $1.60 in February 1971.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/min...ebruary%201971.

My first home cost me 10,000hrs of min wage (at the time) I had 3 jobs (One paid >10x min wage, whoo-hoo, but it was very risky)
Current home = 10,000hrs of current min wage (cost basis). a LOT nicer home!!!, (8x size of home, 150x property size + a free view and whole lot newer)
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Old 01-27-2021, 05:31 PM
 
30,022 posts, read 11,606,631 times
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Back in the early 80's I was in college in California and minimum wage was $3.35. I had a studio apt in Burbank that I paid about $400 a month.



Today in Tucson, AZ you can find a small studio apt for about the same as California in the 80's and minimum is $12. In my small town in Oklahoma you can rent a 2br house for $350 and minimum is the federal minimum of $7 something an hour.



So depending on where you live you can do much better now than 37 years ago in California on minimum wage.
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Old 01-27-2021, 07:43 PM
 
4,621 posts, read 2,193,764 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Concert D Major View Post
How many Big Macs could you buy today with 1 hour's worth of work at today's minimum wage?

- versus -

How many could you buy back in the day for the same 1 hour of work at minimum wage back then?
1 hour at minimum wage in texas 2000, $5.15 1 big mac in Texas $2.32 so 2 with $0.51

1 hour minimum wage today in Texas $7.25 1 big mac in Texas $3.99 so one with $3.26 left

Doesn't seem like it's that much different here.
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Old 01-28-2021, 05:26 AM
 
Location: Wooster, Ohio
4,110 posts, read 2,992,749 times
Reputation: 7221
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01 View Post
When I started working, I was making $2.65/hr and a Big Mac was about $1.20 in 1978. Of course, we never ate at McDonalds as you could head to Burger Chef and get a $0.39 hamburger and load it up with toppings. Back then, nearly all meals were eaten at home unless you were fortunate to work at a restaurant and could get your meals free.

Eventually free meals went away due to a court decision that challenged their deductibility.

For the record, in the 1970s, you were lucky to get a job at McDonalds as they received about 20-30 applications per position.And then they sould cap you at 30 hours. I was lucky to work for a competitor where I could get 50 hours a week.
My parents liked Burger Chef. It took connections to get a part-time job in the early 1970s. I was one of the fortunate ones. Just too many of us baby boomers. On the other hand, it took me 5 years to graduate from college. I paid half of the tuition, while my parents paid the rest of the expenses, and graduated debt free in 1979.
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