vitrine · corridor · pairwise
1990s ↔ 2020s
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
⚠ Price and anchor years differ by more than 3 years in: 2020s — the hours axis is not strictly inflation-free there.
Budget composition
Inspect the folded categories
1990s
housing:
housing 31.3%
apparel:
apparel 5.7%
food:
food 15.0%
health:
healthcare 4.3%
transport:
transportation 18.7%
other:
insurance/pensions 10.1% + entertainment 6.0% + cash contributions 2.1% + education 1.8%
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.
1990s · Tier A
71.8 male, 78.8 female (75.4 total, all races)
2020s · Tier A
76.5 male, 81.4 female (79.0 total)
Infant mortality
deaths under age 1 per 1,000 live births
1990s · Tier A
9.2 per 1,000 live births
2020s · Tier A
5.525 per 1,000 live births (552.5 per 100,000)
People in poverty
% below the official poverty line
⚠ The official poverty series begins in 1959 — earlier decades have no line.
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.
Household landline telephone
% of households
⚠ The 1900s source combines several technologies in one headline percentage, so its 5% is not plotted as a telephone datum.
⚠ 1910s–1930s sources counted telephones per 1,000 population, not households — those decades render as gaps rather than a unit splice.
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.
Internet at home
% of households
⚠ 1990s–2010s sources report within-decade ranges; the placards carry them and the chart renders the gaps.
Vehicle at home
% of households with a vehicle
1990s · Tier A
88.5% (11.5% with no vehicle); avg 1.8 vehicles per household
2020s · Tier A
91.5% (8.5% with no vehicle)
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.
1990s · Tier D
no reliable record accessible online — see the placard
2020s · Tier C
Ramey 2005: women 29.3, men 16.8 hrs/week (ages 18–64) → ATUS 2024: household activities 2.01 hrs/day, all adults 15+ — see the placard
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.
1990s · Tier D
no reliable record accessible online — see the placard
2020s · Tier C
Ramey 2005: women 29.3, men 16.8 hrs/week (ages 18–64) → ATUS 2024: household activities 2.01 hrs/day, all adults 15+ — see the placard
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.
1990s · Tier A
Food $6,535/yr (15.0% of expenditure). Food at home $4,046 (62% of food), food away from home $2,489 (38%). Key items: meats/poultry/fish/eggs $1,064, cereals/bakery $658, fruits/vegetables $638, dairy $448, beef $319. Total expenditure: $43,670.
2020s · Tier D
no reliable record verified for this comparison — see the placard
Consumer Price Index
CPI-U level, 1982–84 = 100
1990s · Tier A
CPI 130.7 (1990) → 313.7 (2024) = 2.4x. $1 in 1990 = $2.40 in 2024. Real median family income grew 1.25x.
2020s · Tier A
313.7
Median home size
median sq ft, new single-family houses completed
⚠ 1970s–2020s: median square feet of new single-family houses completed (Census C-25/H-150 / Characteristics of New Housing). The 2020s point is 2024; the series is conceptually consistent across the whole span.
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 mortality
age-adjusted deaths per 100,000
⚠ Six curated points across nine decades — 1960s, 1980s, and 2000s are absent from this selection and render as gaps. A gap here does not establish that NCHS has no observation.
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
1990s · Tier A
18.6% of national health expenditures paid out of pocket
2020s · Tier A
10.5% of national health expenditures paid out of pocket
Healthcare share of household budget
% of total expenditures (CEX, consumer units)
⚠ Different population from the NHE arcs (consumer units, not national health spending) and different concept (family budget share, not GDP share). The trend is the same direction.
1990s · Tier A
5.2% of total expenditures ($1,770)
2020s · Tier A
7.9% of total expenditures ($6,197)
Expenditure-to-income ratio
% (total expenditures ÷ income before taxes, all CUs)
⚠ The aggregate ratio hides inequality — the bottom quintile spent 221.8% of income in 2012 (see us-2010s-cex-quintile-q1-ratio). The falling aggregate reflects high-income households pulling the ratio down, not broad-based affordability improvement.
1990s · Tier A
88.9% — expenditures $33,797 vs income $38,014
2020s · Tier A
75.4% — expenditures $78,535 vs income $104,207
Apparel's share of spending
% of total expenditures
⚠ Population changes mid-series: 1970s–1990s are 4-person CUs (CEX Table 4), 2000s–2020s are all consumer units (multi-year tables). Every placard names the measured population.
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.
1990s · Tier A
2.08 deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
2020s · Tier A
1.34 deaths per 100 million vehicle-miles travelled
Deaths at work per 100,000 workers
fatal work injuries per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers
⚠ The federal Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries began in 1992. Earlier estimates and other records exist, but this collection does not join them to the CFOI series.
⚠ Between 2006 and 2024 the displayed rate ranges from 3.3 to 4.2. It is not marked as a steadily falling arc; no statistical trend test is implied by that presentation choice.
⚠ The 1992-2005 rates CFOI did publish were computed against employment rather than hours worked. BLS replaced that basis in 2006, so those years measure something else and are not chained on; the 1990s slot is a gap, not a zero.
1990s · Tier A
no reliable record — the federal census of workplace deaths began in 1992, and its rate basis changed in 2006 — see the placard
2020s · Tier A
3.4 fatal work injuries per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers
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.
1990s · Tier A
59.9 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-19
2020s · Tier A
15.0 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)
Grapes 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.