Making Sense of 1959 Prices
Sure, that $5 yearbook looks super-cheap today, but when you put it into perspective by looking at what other things cost in 1959, it make a little more sense:
Gallon of gasoline ………. 25¢
Loaf of white bread ……... 20¢
Movie ticket ………………$1
Postage stamp ……………. 4¢
Average yearly wages ……………………….$5,010
Average cost of a new car …………………...$2,200
Average cost of a new house……………….$12,400
Or to look at it another way, that $5 in 1959 dollars equals roughly $37 in 2009 dollars. So that 25¢ gallon of gas would cost $1.86 today (we can only dream…). Here are a few other 1959 to 2009 conversions:
Loaf of white bread ……….. $1.48
Movie ticket ……………….. $7.42
Postage stamp ………………30¢
Yearly wages ………………. $37,182
New car ……………………. $16,328
New house ………………… $92,028
Okay, but how does that compare to what things really cost today? As you might expect, most of today’s average prices are higher than their 1959 equivalents, with one exception. Yes, that loaf of white bread actually costs less today than it did in 1959 ($1.34 vs. $1.48).
Gallon of gasoline in 2009 ……….. $2.69
Movie ticket in 2009 ………………$10.50
Postage stamp in 2009 ……………. 42¢
Yearly wages, 2009 ………………. $45,864
New car, 2009 …………………….. $26,300
New house, 2009 ………………….$175,000
Now here’s the kicker -- average yearly tuition, room & board at college, then and now:
Public 4-year college, in-state resident
1959: $810 2009 equivalent: $6,011 2009 actual cost: $7,020
Private 4-year college
1959: $1,510 2009 equivalent: $11,207 2009 actual cost: $26,273
Public 2-year college, resident
1959: $74 2009 equivalent: $549 2009 actual cost: $2,544
As you can see, going to a state school doesn’t cost that much more these days but private schools have more than doubled and community college is almost five times more expensive today.
Maybe those really were the “good old days” after all ….
PLEASE NOTE: All prices quoted are national averages, not specific to California, with the exception of the cost of a movie ticket, which is the current price at the Edwards Cinema Palace 14 in Ontario.
Sources:
The Clarion
CPI Inflation Calculator http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
The People’s History, the Year 1959 http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1959.html
Prices – What Things Cost – 1959 http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/prices-1959.htm
Average Charges for Full-Time Undergraduate Students, by Type and Control of College: 1959-60 to 1994-95 http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/yi/yi24.pdf
U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_home_page.html
Edwards Cinema Ontario 14 www.fandango.com
Bureau of Labor Statistics http://data.bls.gov
Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/18/study-average-car-costs-22-1-weeks-of-median-family-income-ave/
Average Home Sales Prices In All Regions of the United States http://www.realestateabc.com/outlook/overall.htm
College Board http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/4494.html
