Snapshot of changing U.S.

By the time you read this, the nation's population will have hit 300 million, up from 100 million in 1915 and 200 million in 1967, when President Lyndon Baines Johnson wrestled with the quagmire that was Vietnam, San Francisco's summer of love gave the nation flower power and the Steelers weren't all that super.

Here's where the nation stands, and stood, at these population milestones.

NOW AND THEN ...

President

2006: George W. Bush

1967: Lyndon B. Johnson

1915: Woodrow Wilson

Price of a new home

2006: $290,600

1967: $24,600 ($149,147 in 2006 dollars)

1915: $3,200 ($64,158 in 2006 dollars)

Price of milk

2006: $3.00 gallon

1967: $1.03 gallon ($6.24 in 2006 dollars)

1915: $ .36 gallon ($7.22 in 2006 dollars)

Cost for a gallon of regular gas

2006: $2.23 (as of Oct. 16)

1967: 33 cents ($2.00 in 2006 dollars)

1915: 25 cents ($5.01 in 2006 dollars)

Pop Culture

2006: iPods and "American Idol" reign supreme and cell phones are the rage.

1967: Color TV is the rage. "The Lucy Show," "Andy Griffith" and "Gomer Pyle" are the top-rated television shows.

1915: The "Model T" and silent movies are the rage. Raggedy Ann, aspirin in tablet form and processed cheese are introduced. The milk carton is invented.

World Population

2006: 6.5 billion

1967: 3.5 billion

1915: 1.8 billion

Coming to America

2006: 34.3 million foreign-born people —12 percent of total population. Mexico is the leading country of origin.