> People also just love looking at averages for salary and home price, but they ignore that the average home has more than doubled in size. The average car today is also much faster, safer, and more luxurious than the old ones.

Capturing this dynamic is why the BLS has a hard job. If you can't buy a small shabby house in the area where you work and you can't buy a cheap car with no amenities and safety standards from 20 years ago then you're effectively poorer if you wanted that. All new housing construction in my area is giant houses and luxury apartments with no end in sight. According to the builders (because they make deals with the city who want to know why they can't make affordable housing) the economics don't work out otherwise.