Real GDP
(media.scored.co)
This is funny because my father has begun to say that 2000-2005 felt like "the peak", and a lot of zoomers and millennials look back on that era with nostalgia as well. Things weren't all rosey (dot com bust, terror panic, Iraq war) but people didn't feel poor. Back then I was paying loke $700/month for rent and $100-125/month on groceries. A $40-45k entry level job out of college felt like you could make it.