What America was like in 2004
You were born in…
2004
This is where your story begins.
You’ve been here for
22
years
That’s about 8,000 days of history.
A first-class stamp in 2004 cost
37¢
Today the same stamp costs 82¢.
A dollar from 2004 would be worth
$1.78
today
Measured by the government’s Consumer Price Index.
The federal minimum wage in 2004 was
$5.15
an hour
Today it’s $7.25.
The president in 2004
George W. Bush
Since then you’ve lived under 4 presidents.
The 2000 census counted
281 million
Americans
By 2020 there were 331 million of us.
You’ve been around for
22
Super Bowls
From Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 to Super Bowl LX in 2026.
You’re older than…
- The iPhone went on sale2007. You were 3.
- The iPad went on sale2010. You were 6.
So yes,
you’ve seen the worldchange a lot.
And you remember it.
Your 2004 story
That was 2004.
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Where these numbers come from
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100
- U.S. Postal Service, Rates for Domestic Letters Since 1863
- U.S. Department of Labor, history of federal minimum wage rates
- U.S. Census Bureau, decennial census resident population
- Presidents and milestones: widely documented public records.