How much money would $15 a day, in 1950 be worth today? How much has real wages decreased in 60 years?

As said in other answers: It depends on what you buy. A piece of technology naturally gets less expensive over time, while other things stay the same or go up. It all depends on Consumer Price Index and that changes with all sorts of factors.

However: Here's a smattering of prices over time: thepeoplehistory.com/70yearsofpricechang.... But if you want the MOST simple answer, just use the calculator on the right side of this page minneapolisfed.org/ and type in what year you want to compare with. One thing is, it also depends on where you live.

A gallon of milk in Hawaii or a village in Alaska can cost $10-20 or even more because it costs so much to fly it there. If I were in, say, Seattle, I might pay as little as $2.79 or even $2.00 if it was on sale. This is really close to what I remember it being 20 years ago... but as transportation and manufacturing in certain processes have become more efficient, some prices have leveled off or dropped as a percentage of total income.

What people make as opposed to now has also changed depending on what race you are. Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States, scroll down to "over time-by race and sex" and you will see what I mean. That means that the "amount" people pay (as a percentage of their total income) might be different depending on who you are AND WHEN you are.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases CPI data monthly. Here's a good example of how complicated this question is, with an example of a movie (which has gone up more quickly than other things, by the way).

minneapolisfed.org/community_education/teacher/calc/ html.

Let me define "need items" to survive1. Home for three2. Food for three3.

A vehicle and gas for transportation4. Water, electricity, sewer, and natural gas for 2400 square foot home5. Property tax GoldenLion 3 days ago .

In 1950 you could get a meal for a dollar and a home for $35 a month. In California I got chuck roast for $0.35 a pound in 1952. Html.

It's a hard thing to answer-- it depends what you're trying to buy. If you wanted to buy a computer in 1950, it would cost you several million dollars, about the computing power of a $5 pocket calculator of today. So in that sense prices have gone down by a factor of 200,000.

If you wanted to buy a cure for polio in 1950, no amount of money could get you a dose of polio vaccine, which costs $5 today. If you wanted to buy a safe car, one that wouldn't kill you if you rolled it, again, your choices would be slim to none. But real wages have gone down significantly-- back then one breadwinner per household was enough to have a comfortable standard of living.

Lets say in general, "cost of living", the essentials. Real wages have decreased and at the same time the cost of goods has decreased. In the 1950s how much more buying power did he have?

GoldenLion 5 days ago .

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