Cost of living is not strictly inflation, it also includes necessary expenses that previous generations did not have to account for, minus necessary expenses that they did have to account for but which current ones do not. These expense changes occur continuously due to social, cultural, and technological changes, so it’s kind of hard to honestly compare among generations, and more drastic the further apart they are.

Example: to get and keep my job today, I had to have a phone and a residence, a college degree in a specific field, and a certain level of personal hygiene. For my great-grandfather, to find a job that gave him the same purchasing power in terms of food, shelter, healthcare, and leisure, he needed a willingness to work, a bit of strength, and to not be sick. The need for a car to get to work and the grocery store, deodorant for men, home phones, social security, and education requirements weren’t even things back then. Medicine was nowhere near as advanced so costs were much lower, but you might actually die from things that we would consider mundane inconveniences today. Pensions still existed, and provided enough to actually live in old age. He didn’t buy a house, he built it, without any of the code/safety requirements of today.

Longer-term expense commitments for my grandparents: a vehicle, gas for heating instead of coal, ice blocks for their ice box to keep perishable foods longer. These brought many improvements that were worth the added expenses. They could still afford to have 5+ children (both sets of grandparents) on a single working-class home.

My parents needed a second car because they needed a second income, both jobs requiring more education, to support fewer children in poorer conditions, with a smaller house. My grandfather discouraged my dad from getting a job in the trades (where he worked his whole life) because of the detriment it caused to his physical health, and a recession and conservative deregulations had gutted the trade unions so they could no longer provide the same level of benefits and could only provide seasonal/inconsistent work opportunities. He had to take on a second career after his first.

With no kids and a good job, I still couldn’t even dream of getting a mortgage until well into my 30s, and most of my generation still can’t. And the generations behind me are clearly worse off than me. Their education costs are double mine, but neither wages nor inflation have doubled in that time! While available quality of life is higher now, it’s nowhere near guaranteed. The increase in cost of living is undeniably much higher than the rise in inflation has been.