Comparing the cost of living between 1975 and 2015:

[malthaussen]

19. Interesting that the chart uses 1975 as a baseline...

... considering it was just about the peak of the period of double-digit inflation that characterized the early 70's. To take one glaring example, gasoline prices in 1975 were already .25 higher in contemporary dollars than they had been in, say, '71. I think the differences would be even more striking if a different period were used for comparison. Postal rates, for example went from .08 in 1971 to .10 in '74, and really were not .13 until 1976 (the .13 rate took effect on 31 December 1975).

OTOH, as suggested upthread, prices for electronics are not even of the same order now as the prices in the early 70's, and even a big-screen plasma TV is cheaper now in constant dollars than a typical console color TV would have been.

On the gripping hand, things like a burger at McDonald's are probably a bit cheaper now than they were in the early '70s. I remember an ad campaign of McDonald's in 1972 touting the fact that one could get a burger, small fries, and a small coke and change back from your dollar. (It's even on YT!) According to the 'Net, the same three items would run $3.39 now, which is cheaper adjusted for inflation (and just as nutritious as ever!).

On yet another hand (what strange alien creature is this, with four hands and counting?), air travel, vacations, luxury cruises are probably an order of magnitude cheaper now than in the early 70's. According to AHLA, https://www.ahla.com/content.aspx?id=4072 , average price of a hotel room is almost exactly equal in the two eras adjusted for inflation. (assuming 4.36 2015 dollars equals one 1975 dollar).

As for housing, I happen to have lived in the same apartment since 1973, so I can do a direct comparison. Rent is virtually the same, adjusted for inflation, but services are not. Most significant is the fact that in 1973, my utilities were included in the rent, whereas that has not been the case for many years now. As I live in an area that actually has weather, this is a major difference in cost. Several other services have been cut or reduced, but that is trivial compared to paying for utilities. Lower-end apartments, though, have increased more in rent (as a percentage) than the one in which I live.

-- Mal