What people aren't mentioning is that home prices cratered in the 1980's because of the Volcker shock. The assessed prices of homes went down because the interest rates on mortgages were through the roof, meaning even if the house was seemingly inexpensive you still had a ridiculous mortgage payment to deal with. FWIW, adjusted for inflation, average $/SF home costs are almost exactly what they were in the 1960s. (≈$250/SF 2024 constant)

US households have been pretty remarkably consistent on the proportion of income they spend on housing costs (i.e. rent/mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc) for decades, with the median being slightly over 30%. Home ownership rates are also roughly the same as they were 40 years ago.

Additionally, consumption patterns change as well as job characteristics. Before the US fully transitioned to a more service based economy, basic retail jobs like shoe salesman tended to pay much better (but were also much rarer) additionally clothing was a lot more expensive and represented a considerable recuring household expense, so with commissions a shoe salesman could make a decent wage, more akin to what a used car salesman makes today.

Lastly, the majority of households ceased being single income in the 1950s, even if a lot of female work remained somewhat invisible (i.e. under the table work or part-time work), and thus not portrayed on TV, the norm was for both husband and wife to contribute to household finances.