Modern America is Great

People in our modern political environment increasingly claim that the system is broken and the rules can be brushed aside to set things right. That the system is broken is taken to be self-evident: housing is out of reach, there are no good jobs, politics is more polarized than ever, and violence and crime have gotten out of control. Commentators online frequently claim that we are living in unprecedented times. More than half (58%) of Americans think it is worse than it was 50 years ago for people like them.

The notion that we are in a uniquely broken system, and unprecedented times can only be the result of economic and historical ignorance. Modern America is almost obviously more stable and better off than it was during the 1960s and 1970s. On almost any given metric (crime, economic, health, etc.), Americans are living better today than they were 50 years ago.

Political violence was rampant in the 60s and 70s. The 1960s was a decade for assassinations: President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy all lost their lives to assassinations. The 1970s was a decade for bombings. There were approximately 2,500 bombings from 1971 to 1972, and there were 1,471 recorded terrorist attacks during the decade, more than doubling the number of attacks in any decade that followed.

The 1970s were a time of high and rising crime in general. From 1970-1979, there were on average per 100,000 people: 452 violent crimes, 4297 property crimes, 9 murders, 26 forcible rapes, 196 robberies, 221 aggravated assaults, 1,340 burglaries, 2,498 larceny/thefts, 495 vehicle thefts. From November 2024 to October 2025, there were on average per 100,000 people: 334 violent crimes, 1,592 property crimes, 4 murders, 37 rapes, 52 robberies, 241 aggravated assaults, 203 burglaries, 1,180 larceny/thefts, and 209 motor vehicle thefts, and all these crime rates have gone down since the previous year.

The economy is also far stronger than it was 50 years ago. Real GDP per capita has jumped from $28,061 to $69,756 from 1975-2025. From 1970-1981, the average annual inflation rate was 7.3%, with rates peaking at 12.4% in 1980. The average annual inflation rate was just 3% from 2015-2025, peaking at 6.2% in 2022. People have also been getting richer in real terms: real median personal income from 1974-2024 went from $28,720 to $45,140 and real median household income went from $60,420 to $83,730 from 1984 to 2024.

People also live longer now. In 1970, average life expectancy was 70.8 years, in 2025 it was 79.4 years. More safety features and medical advances have played their part in extending lifespans. GLP-1s have started to reverse the trend of rising obesity. From 1970 to 2023, traffic fatalities dropped from 52,627 to 40,901, and 4.1 per 100 million vehicle miles driven to 1.26.

Americans have increasingly had the money and opportunity to see the world. Estimates in 1968 suggested that only 6% of Americans had traveled internationally; now over 70% have been to another country. The share of Americans who have valid passports has jumped from 3% in 1989 to 51% in 2024.

Concerns regarding housing proliferate amongst the discontent, but issues with housing have more to do with demographic shifts and regulation than systemic market failure. Other than surveys done by the National Association of Realtors, measures of the median age of first-time home buyers have stayed constantly in the early 30s throughout the past decade. Housing costs have grown less than average wages since 2000. Median home prices grew faster than median household incomes from 1978-2000, but actually grew slower than median household incomes when controlling for home quality.

Home ownership rates for young adults (25-34) have declined since the 70s but have held constant when controlling for relationship status. It is easier for two people to buy a home together than to buy one as an individual. The decline in young people getting married is a significant contributor to the difficulty young people have with buying a home. However, there is still room for improvement in making the home-buying process more accessible. Financial regulations increase concentration in the mortgage lending market and zoning restrictions limit the supply of new housing. Removing these regulations would make housing more accessible.

All these points do not prove that America is perfect or that there is nothing to be worried about. They do, however, mean that we should not forget to count our blessings. America is far safer and more prosperous than it was 50 years ago. One can still push for making things better without making the false claim that everything has gone downhill in America over the past 50 years.

It is politically advantageous for politicians and media personalities to play up the bad aspects of our modern world. Outrage at the state of the world is frequently used as the pretext for the government to step in to provide a “solution” and attracts attention online. Comparing the state of the world to how things were just 50 years ago cut against that outrage. Americans have many things to be thankful for and should take prophecies of doom with a grain of salt.

Caleb Petitt is a research associate at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. @CalebDPetitt