vitrine · corridor · pairwise
1960s ↔ 2000s
Fact families the measure guard certifies comparable for this pair. Everything else renders as the gap it is. Every value links to its record.
A median home — affordability
A new car — affordability
1960s · Tier A
~$1,822 (average wholesale, computed from factory sales) ≈ 872 hours of work
2000s · Tier A
$21,030 ≈ 1,501 hours of work
Life expectancy at birth
years (all races, both sexes)
⚠ Decades before the 1960s published white-only male/female life tables with no all-races total — the placard carries the sexed figures and the chart renders the gap rather than a spliced concept.
1960s · Tier A
66.6 male, 73.1 female (69.7 total, all races)
2000s · Tier A
74.3 male, 79.7 female (77.0 total, all races)
Infant mortality
deaths under age 1 per 1,000 live births
People in poverty
% below the official poverty line
⚠ The official poverty series begins in 1959 — earlier decades have no line.
1960s · Tier A
22.2% (39.9 million people in poverty)
2000s · Tier A
11.3% (31.5 million people in poverty)
Homeownership
% of occupied housing units owner-occupied
Average family size
persons per family
⚠ The 1900s datum (5.31) is from the 1901 BLS wage-earner survey — 0.7 persons above the Census 1900 national average of 4.61; the survey and census describe different populations.
⚠ The 1940s point is 1947 (first postwar CPS tabulation), not 1940. These averages describe family size, not the composition of a particular household or the cause of changes over time.
Complete plumbing
% of homes with complete plumbing
1960s · Tier A
83.2% of homes had complete plumbing (16.8% lacked)
2000s · Tier A
~99.5% of homes had complete plumbing (~0.5% lacked)
Air conditioning
% of households with AC
⚠ The 1980s source bridges 1978 central-AC and 1993 total-AC figures — no single-decade datum, so the decade renders as a gap.
1960s · Tier A
18.8% of households had air conditioning
2000s · Tier A
87% of homes had AC (61% central AC)
Vehicle at home
% of households with a vehicle
1960s · Tier A
78.5% (21.5% with no vehicle); avg 1.1 vehicles per household
2000s · Tier A
89.7% (10.3% with no vehicle); avg 1.9 vehicles per household
Women's unpaid home production
hours per week, prime-age women
⚠ From 2010s onward the source is ATUS (all adults 15+, hrs/day, narrower 'household activities'), not Ramey (prime-age women 18-64, hrs/week, broader 'home production') — a concept splice. ATUS facts remain available in their rooms, but render as linked gaps on this weekly axis rather than as a false decline.
Men's unpaid home production
hours per week, prime-age men
⚠ From 2010s onward the source is ATUS (all adults 15+, hrs/day, narrower 'household activities'), not Ramey (prime-age men 18-64, hrs/week, broader 'home production') — a concept splice. ATUS facts remain available in their rooms, but render as linked gaps on this weekly axis rather than as a false rise or decline.
Food's share of spending
% of household expenditure
⚠ Populations differ across the century — 1901 wage-earner families vs modern consumer units; every placard names who was measured.
⚠ The 1950s point is the nearest available survey (CEX 1960–61), stated plainly rather than back-cast.
1960s · Tier A
Food $1,309/yr (24.3% of expenditure). Food away from home $274 (20.9% of food). Local telephone $69/yr.
2000s · Tier A
Food $8,622/yr (13.9% of expenditure). Food at home $4,846 (56% of food), food away from home $3,776 (44%). Key items: meats/poultry/fish/eggs $1,140, fruits/vegetables $780, cereals/bakery $666, dairy $556, beef $344. Total expenditure: $62,215.
Number of families
families in the United States
⚠ CPS/F-8 counts all families (related persons living together). The 1940s point is 1947 — the first postwar CPS tabulation.
Heart disease mortality
age-adjusted deaths per 100,000
Cancer 5-year relative survival
% surviving 5 years after diagnosis (SEER)
⚠ Different source family (SEER/NCI, not CDC NCHS) and different unit (% surviving, not deaths per 100,000) — not grouped with the mortality arcs.
Healthcare spending as share of GDP
% of GDP (national health expenditures)
Out-of-pocket share of health spending
% of total NHE paid out of pocket
1960s · Tier A
47.1% of national health expenditures paid out of pocket
2000s · Tier A
14.5% of national health expenditures paid out of pocket
Median gross rent
USD/month, nominal (specified renter-occupied units)
⚠ Nominal dollars — the CPI arc and affordability dashboard provide deflation context. No 2010s or 2020s point: Census Historical Housing Tables end at 2000; ACS rent data (Table B25064) would extend the arc in a future curation pass.
Road deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles
deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
⚠ A rate, not a count. Absolute road deaths peaked at 55,600 in 1972 and were still near 41,000 in 2023; what fell by a factor of thirty is the aggregate death rate per mile travelled. It does not measure an individual traveller's risk.
⚠ FHWA's own footnote records a definitional change: from 1976 the count includes only people who died within 30 days of the crash. Earlier years were counted on a wider window, so the two halves of this line are not quite the same measurement.
⚠ The 1900 figure rests on 36 recorded deaths against an estimated 100 million vehicle-miles. It is published, not reconstructed, but the exposure behind it is very thin and the travel figure is a back-cast.
1960s · Tier A
5.06 deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
2000s · Tier A
1.53 deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
Births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
⚠ Not marked falling, because it does not only fall. The highest point in this selected-year table is 1960; that is not a claim about the annual historical peak. The selected points rise again between 1980 and 1990 before declining.
⚠ A rate over every woman aged 15 to 19, not over those who were sexually active. This age-specific rate does not establish marital status, sexual activity, or social approval.
⚠ The series is what NCHS prints: selected years, not annual, so the line connects published rows and the true peak between them is not shown. It begins in 1950 because the published table does; the museum's earlier rooms carry no card rather than an invented one.
1960s · Tier A
89.1 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
2000s · Tier A
47.7 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
Broccoli available per person
pounds per person per year (farm weight)
Bell peppers available per person
pounds per person per year (farm weight)
Alcohol consumed per person
gallons of pure ethanol per person per year
⚠ Apparent consumption: legal beverage sales and shipments divided by population. The source table prints '(Prohibition)' instead of values for 1920-1933. That gap is not zero consumption or proof that no alcohol was sold; it is not interpolated and no estimate is substituted for it.
⚠ Not falling, on purpose. The line is a discontinuity, not a trend: the 1911-1915 level is not reached again until the 1970s, and the modern peak (2.76 in 1981) sits above every year since.
⚠ The 1900s and 1910s cards carry five-year ranges rather than single years, because that is how the table publishes the pre-1934 record; the annual series therefore begins at 1934.
⚠ The denominator changes at 1970, from population aged 15 and over to aged 14 and over. It is disclosed, not corrected for.
⚠ The table's own note records that data before 1977 are from Hyman et al. 1980 — the early half of this official series is republished scholarly work.
1960s · Tier A
2.07 gallons of pure ethanol per person per year
2000s · Tier A
2.19 gallons of pure ethanol per person per year
Adults who smoke
% of adults (18+) who currently smoke
⚠ NHIS survey years only; the survey begins 1965, so earlier decades render as gaps, not zeros. Each marker sits at its fact's own year. The decade placards come from the American Lung Association compilation of the same survey, which agrees with this table at every overlapping year except 2006 (20.8 here, 20.6 there); the 2000 marker is that compilation's value on a year this table leaves blank.