What America was like in 2009
You were born in…
2009
This is where your story begins.
You’ve been here for
17
years
That’s about 6,200 days of history.
A first-class stamp in 2009 cost
44¢
Today the same stamp costs 82¢.
A dollar from 2009 would be worth
$1.57
today
Measured by the government’s Consumer Price Index.
The federal minimum wage in 2009 was
$6.55
an hour
Today it’s $7.25.
The presidents in 2009
George W. Bush and Barack Obama
Since then you’ve lived under 3 presidents.
The 2010 census counted
309 million
Americans
By 2020 there were 331 million of us.
You’ve been around for
17
Super Bowls
From Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 to Super Bowl LX in 2026.
You’re older than…
- The iPad went on sale2010. You were 1.
So yes,
you’ve seen the worldchange a lot.
And you remember it.
Your 2009 story
That was 2009.
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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.