With the 50th Super Bowl upon us, one federal agency has a reminder about how much America has changed since that very first game, staged in Los Angeles on Jan. 15, 1967. Behold, some startling numbers about the nation, all from official federal sources:
The U.S. population then was 197.5 million; it’s now 322.8 million. Five decades ago, the U.S. was home to 9.6 million foreign-born people; the number now stands at 42.4 million. The active-duty military population has dropped from 3.4 million then to 1.3 million now. The world population, incidentally, has more than doubled, from 3.5 billion to 7.3 billion.
The median sale price of a house in 1967 was $22,000; it’s now $282,800. A gallon of milk cost 33 cents; it’s now $3.31. A first-class postage stamp was 5 cents, up to 49 cents these days. The median age for a first marriage for women in 1967 was 20.6 years; it’s now 27 years. For men, it was 23 years, now up to 29.2 years.
The median age in 1967 was 28.1 years; it has since risen to 37.7 years. The median income previously was $7,143 - climbing to $53,657 these days. There are more older folks about. Fifty years ago, the population over 65 was 19.1 million. It now stands at 46.2 million.
Meanwhile, life expectancy was 70.5 years in 1967; it has risen to 78.8 years. The median age of the population was 28.1; it now stands at 37.7 years. Meanwhile, the number of people over 65 once was 19.1 million. It is now 46.2 million. Michael and Lisa were the most popular baby names in 1967, now replaced by Noah and Emma.
