Standard of Living in The United States - Measures

Measures

On comprehensive measures such as the UN Human Development Index the United States is always in the top twenty, currently ranking 4th. On the Human Poverty Index the United States ranked 17th, one rank below the United Kingdom and one rank above Ireland. On the Economist's quality-of-life index the United States ranked 13th, in between Finland and Canada, scoring 7.6 out of a possible 10. The highest given score of 8.3 was applied to Ireland. This particular index takes into account a variety of socio-economic variables including GDP per capita, life expectancy, political stability, family life, community life, gender equality, and job security.

The homeownership rate is relatively high compared to other post-industrial nations. In 2005, 69% of Americans resided in their own homes, roughly the same percentage as in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Israel and Canada. Residents of the United States also enjoy a high access to consumer goods. Americans enjoy more cars and radios per capita than any other nation and more televisions and personal computers per capita than any other large nation.

From the Thirties up until 1980, the average American income (after taxes and inflation) tripled, which translated into higher living standards for the American population.

During the Sixties, median family incomes increased by over 33%, while per capita expenditures on recreation and meals grew by over 40%. From 1959 to 1969, median family income (in 1984 dollars) increased from $19,300 to $26,700.

However, a significant pay gap between men and women continued to persist throughout the course of the postwar period. In 1969, for instance, the median annual earnings of full-time male workers were $13,200 (for scientists), $10,151 (for professional-technical workers), $10,340 (for proprietors/managers), $7,351 (for clerical workers), $8,549 (for sales workers), $7,978 (for craftsmen), $6,738 (for factory workers), and $6,058 (for service workers). For women in those same full-time positions, the equivalent figures were $10,000 (for scientists), $6,691 (for professional-technical workers), $5,635 (for proprietors/managers), $4,789 (for clerical workers), $3,461 (for sales workers), $4,625 (for craftsmen), $3,991 (for factory workers), and $3,332 (for service workers). From 1960 to 1969 median earnings for full-time male workers rose from $5,417 per annum to $7,664 per annum. For women over that same period, the corresponding increase was from $3,293 to $4,457.

As reported by the OECD in 1980, the American standard of living was the highest among the industrial countries. Out of the 85 million households in the United States, 64% owned their own living quarters, 55% had at least two TV sets, and 51% had more than one vehicle. By 1985, the US per capita income was $11,727, one of the highest among industrialized countries. By the mid-Eighties, 98% of all households had a telephone service, 77% a washing machine, 45% a freezer, and 43% a dishwasher. By the Nineties, the avearge American standard of living was regarded as amongst the highest in the world.

The median income is $43,318 per household ($26,000 per household member) with 42% of households having two income earners. Meanwhile, the median income of the average American age 25+ was roughly $32,000 ($39,000 if only counting those employed full-time between the ages of 25 to 64) in 2005. According to the CIA the gini index which measures income inequality (the higher the less equal the income distribution) was clocked at 45.0 in 2005, compared to 32.0 in the European Union and 28.3 in Germany.

|The US has... a per capita GDP of $42,000... The onrush of technology largely explains the gradual development of a "two-tier labor market"... Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households... The rise in GDP in 2004 and 2005 was undergirded by substantial gains in labor productivity... Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits, and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups. -CIA factbook on the US economy, 2005.

The United States has one of the widest rich-poor gaps of any high-income nation today, and that gap continues to grow. In recent times, some prominent economists including Alan Greenspan have warned that the widening rich-poor gap in the U.S. population is a problem that could undermine and destabilize the country's economy and standard of living stating that "The income gap between the rich and the rest of the US population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself".