What life was like 50 years ago in America, compared to now in 2024
It may be safe to say that life is pretty different today, compared to 50 years ago.
From popular music, movies and haircuts to monumental political moments, notable economic statistics and more, here are some examples of how the U.S. has changed from 1974 to 2024.
Top song
In 1974, the top song in the U.S. was "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand, according to Billboard’s Hot 100 list.
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It was released on Dec. 28, 1974.
Actress and singer Barbra Streisand hugs actor Robert Redford from behind in this publicity still from the movie "The Way We Were," directed by Sydney Pollack, 1973. (Columbia Pictures International/Getty Images)
In 2023, Brenda Lee's holiday hit, "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree," reached No. 1 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 list.
The song was originally released in 1958.
Shag haircuts
The layered look, with varying lengths of locks, was a popular hairstyle for men and women in the 1970s, according to the Hair & Makeup Artist Handbook, an online resource that provides media hair and makeup training.
In an overview of 1970s hairstyles, the hair and makeup website wrote that shag haircuts are "a unisex, no frills cut that involves evenly progressing layers with graduated sides and a full fringe."
Actress Jane Fonda played Bree Daniels in the 1971 film "Klute." (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Celebrity hairdresser Paul McGregor reportedly created the style for Jane Fonda’s character Bree Daniels in the film "Klute" (1971).
Other celebrities who donned the shag haircut throughout the '70s included rock ‘n’ roll star Joan Jett, singer Suzi Quatro, the pop boy band Bay City Rollers and "Partridge Family" actor David Cassidy, according to the Hair & Makeup Artist Handbook’s overview.
Shag haircuts reportedly have made a comeback in pop culture, according to multiple fashion and beauty magazines.
Best Picture
The 46th Academy Awards, hosted at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the Los Angeles Music Center on April 12, 1974, honored films that were released in 1973, according to the Oscars website.
The film that won the Best Picture award was "The Sting," directed by George Roy Hill; it starred Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
Nominees for the 96th Academy Awards, scheduled to air on March 10, 2024, are not yet officially announced.
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Variety named several Best Picture contenders for 2024 in a recent report, including "Oppenheimer," "Barbie," Killerso of the Flower Moon," "Poor Things," The Holdovers," "American Fiction," "Maestro" and more.
Gas prices
On average, the cost of gas in the U.S. in 1974 was 53 cents per gallon, according to data from the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.
On average, the cost of gas in the U.S. in 1974 was 53 cents per gallon. (Getty Images)
Now, national gasoline retail prices average around $3.36 per gallon, according to an updated Short-Term Energy Outlook forecast from the Energy Information Administration.
Median income
The median family income rose to $11,100 in 1974.
This was an increase of about 6%, which is "over the 1973 median of $10,500," according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The national household median income rose to $74,580 in 2022, a 2.3% decline from the 2021 estimate of $76,330, according to the Census Bureau’s "Income in the United States: 2022" article, published in September 2023.
If you look back to 2020, the national median family income was $67,521, but the Census Bureau says the amount isn’t "statistically different" when comparing 2020 and 2021. (iStock)
Median home cost
In January 1973, the median sales price of a new home sold in the U.S. was $29,900, according to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
By the end of the year, median home prices rose to $35,700.
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In 1974, "recession struck again," according to gobankingrates.com, "with an extended decline that actually began the prior year and lasted all the way until March 1975."
Prices of homes then jumped to a median of $35,900.
The median cost of a home has drastically changed in America over 50 years. (iStock)
The median sales price of new homes sold in November 2023 was $434,700, with the average sales price being $488,900, according to Monthly New Residential Sales data the Census Bureau released on Friday, Dec. 22.
President Gerald Ford takes office
Gerald R. Ford took the presidential oath of office on Aug. 9, 1974.
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Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States of America as he declared, "I assume the presidency under extraordinary circumstances … This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts," according to whitehouse.gov.
He was referencing, of course, the resignation of Richard Nixon (see below).
President Gerald Ford is seen speaking with Henry Kissinger, 1974. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
During Ford's first two years in the White House, he sent the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marines to take back the American freighter Mayaguez, which was illegally seized by Cambodian communists, according to the Gerald R. Ford Library.
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He also cut inflation by more than half — and nearly four million Americans had found jobs since the bottom of the recession, according to the same source.
Watergate scandal ends, Nixon resigns
The Watergate trial began on Jan. 10, 1973, according to the U.S. Senate website.
The five men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972, pleaded guilty and two were convicted by a jury.
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"Chief Federal District Judge John Sirica expressed skepticism that all the facts in the case had been revealed," the U.S. Senate website says.
"Judge Sirica urged those awaiting sentencing to cooperate with the soon-to-be-established Senate Select Committee."
The Watergate office building is pictured in Washington, D.C., in April 1974. The major scandal led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. (AFP via Getty Images)
In February 1973, the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities was established to investigate the campaign activities related to the presidential election of 1972.
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The committee submitted its final report in 1974.
The Watergate scandal ultimately led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation on the evening of Aug. 8, 1974.
Richard Nixon is shown giving the thumbs-up after his resignation as 37th president of the United States following the Watergate scandal. (Gene Forte/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images)
The Senate’s website says the Watergate investigation "remains one of the most significant congressional inquiries in U.S. history."
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