The changes in Money, Prices and Inflation

Cost Comparison 60 Years
Following on my last post I thought it would be interesting to publish some of my findings with prices etc. over the last 60 years

Average Price of a new house , A gallon of Gas, Average Wages
1937 $4,100.00 , 10 cents , $1,780.00
1947 $6,600.00 , 15 cents , $2,850.00
1954 $10.250.00 , 22 cents ,
1964 $13,050.00 , 30 cents , $6,000.00
1974 $34,900.00 , 55 cents , $13,900.00
1984 $86,730.00 , $1.10 , $21,600.00
1994 $119,050.00 , $1.09 , $37,070.00
2001 $136,150.00 , $1.46 , $42,350.00

These figures are the best figures I can come up with and from many different sources including old newspapers some from government statistics and books , I am afraid very little could be found on the Internet itself or I may well have published more


some of the figures are quite scary in how much they have changed and possibly contributed more to the haves and the have nots in our society

Reducing Prices Of Technology

1920's
Columbia Grafanola Wind up Gramophone $85 1921

1930's
Philco Radio 15 tubes With built in Ariel Tuning system with ultra high fidelity and able to pick up stations from countries around the world and Police, Air, and shipping $188 1934

1940's
Record Player / Radio Combination $59.00 1946

1950's
Sylvania 21 inch black and white TV $148.95 1955

1960's
9 inch portable TV UHF VHF $99.95 1965

1970's
JVC VHS Video Cassette Recorder $695 1979

Car 8 Track Stereo Tape Player $38.99 1970

Very Basic Scientific Calculator $199 1973

Smith Corona Electric Typewriter $199.00 1979

Sony Walkman $200 1979

1980's
Tandy 1000 Computer and Monitor $999 1985

Amiga 500 with Color Monitor $849 1988

Hands Free Operating Car Phone $788 1988

PC 30 mb Hard Disc with monitor 512k memory $1,249 1988

VHS Home Movie Camera $1,599 1988

Early PC Mouse Logitech $89.99 1988

Fisher Compact Disc Player Music Only $199 1985

1990's
PC 486/33 250 mb hard drive 3 1/2 inch floppy drive 1 mg memory $1,260.00 1993

Smith Corona Daisy Wheel Typewriter $179.00 1990

To gain some perspective remember the cost of some other items in some of the years featured
1973 Gallon of Gas 40 cents
1979 Average Cost of a new house $58,100
1985 Nissan Pickup Truck $5,634
1988 Gallon of Gas 91 cents


Many of the products above no longer exist or prices have changed so much they are of interest
All are taken from our Electrical sections which often have pictures from adds at the time

1920's Electrical and Electronics

1930's Electrical and Electronics

1940's Electrical and Electronics

1950's Electrical and Electronics

1960's Electrical and Electronics

1970's Electrical and Electronics

1980's Electrical and Electronics

1990's Electrical and Electronics


Average Price For House UK - US Over 70 years


Below is an idea of average house price in UK Pounds Stirling since 30's in red

The figure in black is basic conversion of $ to the pound for our US visitors ( ranging from $4.80 to the pound in 30's to $2.00 per pound current exchange rates used at end of table )

The last figure in green is US new house price averages for the same year

Average House Price, Year, UK Pounds, Converted to $, US Price

Average House Price 1931 600 $2,880 $6,790

Average House Price 1953 2,006 $5,616 $3,920

Average House Price 1962 2,950 $8,260 $9,550

Average House Price 1975 11,787 $29,467 $12,500

Average House Price 1984 37,182 $48,366 $86,730

Average House Price 1997 71,248 $113,996 $124,100

Average House Price 2006 180,578 $361,156 $299,900


Exchange Rates Used for Conversion ( Current Exchange Rates on those dates )
I did find it interesting that we are worried over the current $2.05 to the pound exchange rate when we look at these long term exchange rates

1931 $4.80 to the Pound
1953 $2.80 to the Pound
1962 $2.80 to the Pound
1975 $2.50 to the Pound
1984 $1.30 to the Pound
1997 $1.60 to the Pound
2000 $2.00 to the Pound

No comments:

Custom Search