Just looked into some housing data and wow, the rent situation really has gotten out of control. So back in 1980, median rent was sitting around $243 a month. By 1985 it jumped to $432. Fast forward to now and you're looking at over $1,400 for the national average. That's not even accounting for regional differences.

What's wild is that rents have been climbing almost 9% annually since 1980, but wages haven't kept up at all. When you adjust for inflation, the average salary in 1980 was roughly $29,300. Compare that to recent figures and yeah, incomes grew, but nowhere near the pace of housing costs.

The real kicker? Half of all renters today are spending over 30% of their income just on rent. Some people are literally paying half their paycheck for housing. Back in the early 80s things were already getting tight - by 1980 over a third of renters were already feeling the squeeze. It's just gotten progressively worse since then. Makes you wonder how sustainable this actually is.