1950 Cost of Living

[Veggie PAK]

My Mom sent me a particular booklet since I was born in 1950. It's called Rember When, and it was put out by Seek Publishing. I thought it was pretty interesting so I thought I would share some info from it with you on what life cost in 1950.

Living

New House $8,450.00
Average Income $3,216.00 per year
New Car $1,511.00
Average Rent $75.00
Tuition to Harvard University $600.00 per year
Movie Ticket $0.65 each
Gasoline $0.18 per gallon
U.S. Postage Stamp $0.03 each


Food

Granulated Sugar $0.85 for 10 pounds
Vitamin D Milk $0.84 per gallon
Ground Coffee $0.70 per pound
Bacon $0.50 per pound
Eggs $0.24 per dozen
Fresh Ground Hamburger $0.49 per pound
Fresh Baked Bread $0.17 per loaf


Now if we went back to these prices but I kept my current income, I could budget pretty well!

Do any of you remember these prices? The best I can do is to remember gas at $0.24 per gallon.

 

[Denim Deb]

That's a little B4 my time. But, I have the same type of booklet (if I can find it) from 1961. :/

 

[k0xxx]

Even though I was born a few years later, I can remember being on a family vacation and seeing gasoline for 19 cents per gallon. We had stopped in a small Texas town where the two local stations, both on the same intersection, were having a price war. The cheapest that I can remember buying gas myself was 32 cents per gallon. I was filling up my mini-bike.

I do remember getting excited upon seeing an ad on TV with the salesman saying that they had brand new pickup trucks for only $17.50. I had more than that saved in my piggy bank and I want to buy one for my dad for his birthday. Then my mother burst my bubble when she explained that it was actually $1750.

 

[TanksHill]

Amazing!!!

 

[FarmerChick]

some things I sure understand as fact...like the cost of a stamp. nationwide obviously....the rest, nope I don't believe in these averages at all.

it is dependent on your location.

there were rents way cheaper than $75 and rents way more expensive into the $1000s even.

I hate averages. Averages tell me nothing but of course they are a starting point. Give me cost of gas, yup that is real, cost of that stamp, yup, real. after that it is a real crapshoot for me.

so much is so different in each area. tv prices are different in every store, buying a phone, property taxes can be lowered etc. if you file correct papers etc. etc.

I do get the 'averages' but when you put it against a location and try to be more specific it just falls apart.


I don't know, why do I not like averages so much HAHA


(does that make sense lol)

 

[Leta]

Okay, so in 1950, an average income earner could buy an average house for about 2.5x annual income.

According to wikipedia, in 2007, the average income in the U.S. was $31,111 and the median house price was about $250,000 (average house price was about $300,000). So the average person buying the average house was looking at 8-10x annual salary.

Yowza.

 

[Laureli]

Just had a 40 something birthday. I remember lining up at the gas station at the foot of the hill... all 6 of the kids and my mom driving so we could get gas on our day. Then years later the summer i graduated from HS, I paid $.79/gallon. Might not have remembered that except I was going through some old papers... and I found the receipt from the MOBILE station that said that.


today, I drive as little as possible so that we have gas when we need it.

 

[abifae]

I'd prefer those if they adjusted for inflation. How much were people making per hour versus those prices.

It's hard to know if we are paying more or less without a comparison. I mean, if you are in a country and get paid a buck a week, .24/gallon on gas is really expensive.

 

[hoosier]

If the average income was $3200, they were making about $1.50/hr if that helps.