A look at then and now as the U.S. population hits 300 million

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Daniel Marsula, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image.

By the time you read this, the nation's population will have hit 300 million, up from 100 million in 1915 and 200 million in 1967, when President Lyndon Baines Johnson wrestled with the quagmire that was Vietnam, San Francisco's summer of love gave the nation flower power and the Steelers weren't all that super.

Here's where the nation and the region stand, and stood, at these population milestones.

NOW AND THEN ...
President
2006: George W. Bush
1967: Lyndon B. Johnson
1915: Woodrow Wilson
Pittsburgh mayors
2006: Luke Ravenstahl
1967: Joseph M. Barr
1915: Joseph G. Armstrong
Price of a new home
2006: $290,600
1967: $24,600 ($149,147 in 2006 dollars)
1915: $3,200 ($64,158 in 2006 dollars)
Price of milk
2006: $3.00 gallon
1967: $1.03 gallon ($6.24 in 2006 dollars)
1915: $ .36 gallon ($7.22 in 2006 dollars)
Cost for a gallon of regular gas
2006: $2.23 (as of Oct. 16)
1967: 33 cents ($2.00 in 2006 dollars)
1915: 25 cents ($5.01 in 2006 dollars)
Pop Culture
2006: iPods and "American Idol" reign supreme and cell phones are the rage.
1967: Color TV is the rage. "The Lucy Show," "Andy Griffith" and "Gomer Pyle" are the top-rated television shows.
1915: The "Model T" and silent movies are the rage. Raggedy Ann, aspirin in tablet form and processed cheese are introduced. The milk carton is invented.
World Population
2006: 6.5 billion
1967: 3.5 billion
1915: 1.8 billion
Pittsburgh population
1915: 561,000
1967: 545,000
2006: 316,000
Coming to America
2006: 34.3 million foreign-born people --12 percent of total population. Mexico is the leading country of origin.
1967: 9.7 million foreign-born people -- 5 percent of total population. Italy was the leading country of origin.
1915: 13.5 million foreign-born people -- 15 percent of the total population. Germany was the leading country of origin.
Homeownership ... the American Dream
Percentage of the nation's householders who owned the home in which they lived.
2006: 68.9%
1967: 63.6%
1915: 45.9%
Life expectancy at birth
2006: 77.8 years
1967: 70.5 years
1915: 54.5 years
Working women
Percentage of women in the labor force, age 16 and older (10 and older for 1915).
2006: 59%
1967: 41%
1915: 23%
Earnings
2006: $34,926 and $23,546 Median 2005 wage and salary income for male and female wage and salary workers, respectively.
1967: $5,974 and $2,295 ($29,589 and $11,367 in 2005 dollars)
1915: $687 ($13,672 in 2005 dollars)
Baby names
Most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively.
2006: Jacob and Emily
1967: Michael and Lisa
1915: John and Mary
Our love of the road
Number of motor vehicle registrations
2006: 237.2 million
1967: 98.9 million
1915: 2.5 million

Different views of 300 million

The number of hairs on the heads of 2,000 people, assuming that each has a really full head of hair.

Enough to fill PNC Park 4,615 times.

Enough to rank No. 30 on the Post-Gazette's 2005 list of Top 50 local companies ranked by revenue.

Enough, in terms of dollars, to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins ($175 million), Dominion Tower (sold last year for $45.2 million), a mansion (84 Lumber founder Joe Hardy's 17-room, 18,653-square-foot Chateau Malmaison sold last year for $3.5 million) and a personal submarine (U.S. Submarines Inc.'s top-of-the-line 213-foot luxury submarine, according to its Web site, has an estimated price of $78 million), with $76.3 million left over in pocket change -- and for taxes.

-- Elwin Green

First published on October 17, 2006 at 12:00 am

Compiled from various sources by the Census Bureau and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.