House sizes
are measured in square feet by their overall width and lengths of livable
space, which excludes basements. Assessor's records provide detailed floor
diagrams and data for each house in the City of Eau Claire. Sizes vary by
the income of owners and also when houses were built. When houses were less
expensive and energy was cheaper, people had larger homes. Today, modest
houses
have about 1,400 square feet of livable space.
Since the 1970s, the average U.S. home size has grown by 80%. In 1950, the average U.S. house had 983 square feet; by 2005, it had increased 2,43 sq. ft.
Yet Americans face a "storage crisis." The self-storage industry is only 35 years old. It took 25 years for the first billion square feet of storage space to be built. The second billion square feet was built in just 8 years.7 square feet of commercial storage space now exists for every American.1 in 11 households rent storage space -- 1 million more households than two years ago. The average USA fridge is twice as big as its European counterpart.
Examine house sizes by decades: 
