I don't think that can accuratly be figured out. There is money, and then there is buying power (and don't forget, big numbers give me a headache). My dad was an oil worker. Not an engineer or anything, a wrench in hand type. In 1943, not long after he started, and as a newlywed, he had saved enough money to buy the only home he ever owned (they lived in it for about 60 years), paying cash ($2000). Other than movie stars, sports figures, and the occasional computer whizkid, who can pay cash for a home today? Yet he made so little that he and mom had a once a week treat for years and years, they walked downtown and shared a 5 cent coke at the soda shop. I started out working for the state (never known for high pay) making as much as he did with 30 years senority with his company, and it took me 20 years to pay off a $37,500 home. My daugher is a letter carrier for the post office, as is her husband. They just bought their first home, used, for $280,00, on a forty year loan...