Not a very well off family

Why is this surprising? They lived during an era of economic hardship. Even in the best of times their standing was not going to approach that of a millionaire. There was very in little in the way of money in the western hills of Virginia. As to their house it was not all that bad compared to some of the neighbors. Quite a number lived in one room shacks. In some ways it reminds me of living in the NE US where I am from and live today. In quite a number of families each generation contributed to the financial base so the people we see today do not live in poverty. The Walton house was obviously added onto over the generations. They did not throw up a 2000 square foot house in the last decades. In my town a high school classmate is sitting on 750,000 dollars worth of real estate which is a LOT for this area. Did he do it by himself? No. His dad found a very good business opportunity over 50 years ago and made the most of it. The son simply was in a position where he was last man standing so to speak so things got signed over to him. People have a lot today because our government committed to a lot of short term policies such as reducing savings rates to bare minimum. This pushed a huge amount of money into the stock market so the momentum there made it hard to lose for quite a long time. A change in policy or economic conditions could bring the market crashing down. If people today had to function like their ancestors their wealth would be far more modest. Just remember just because the DJA is in the 30,000 plus range does not mean it is guaranteed to advance or even stay there.

surprised someone else is watching show did think that John boys sweaters where strange since he is first child, and no one had a bicycle but had radio

Sounds like you need to brush up on your history of when this takes place and where it is located

Run down house? It had electric lighting, an indoor bathroom with a tub and shower, flushing toilet and a radio.

I'd say they had it pretty darn good.