Average 1950s NYC apartment rented for $60/mo, about $530 in 2015 dollars

2015-08-21T09:12:00-04:00

With the US median wage at $5,000 a year, New Yorkers spent 1/10 of their salaries on rent [in the 1950s]...These days a depressing number of young New Yorkers spend over half their income on housing. Rent hikes have transformed a once-democratic city into a playground for the privileged.

Don't adjust for inflation: it will just depress you. This article in The Los Angeles Review of Books historically traces the drastic rise of housing costs for renters from the middle of the 20th century to the present day through a series of inflation adjustments, edgy banking moves, and the morphing shape of the economy.

For more on this topic:

• A little reminder that U.S. rent affordability is at its worst, according to Zillow

• Shipping container village crops up in Oakland, offering alternative to sky-high SF rents

• 500 Square Feet and Falling

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Average 1950s NYC apartment rented for $60/mo, about $530 in 2015 dollars