The standard of living in the USA / USSR / Russia ...

[Viacheslav]

That's very interesting. Just to be clear when you say Russians don't trust banks are you meaning that the average Russian has much more hidden away and the 2800-3000 dollars in the bank is just a part of their savings?

In general, yes, and some money (usually in dollars) can be stored under "mattress" or if opportunities allow, people to invest in real estate.

Also is the $640 a weekly or monthly salary?

Monthly

 

[MarathonMike]

That's very interesting. Just to be clear when you say Russians don't trust banks are you meaning that the average Russian has much more hidden away and the 2800-3000 dollars in the bank is just a part of their savings?

In general, yes, and some money (usually in dollars) can be stored under "mattress" or if opportunities allow, people to invest in real estate.

Also is the $640 a weekly or monthly salary?

Monthly

Thanks. It looks like The average American under 65 years old in 2017 made about $3800 dollars per month. American savings is another story. I see that almost 2/3rds of Americans have less than $1000 in savings and the average is between 4000-8000 dollars depending on which source you are looking at. So in terms of savings at least, the OP is correct. Close enough if we count "mattress savings".