THE GLARING FACTS OF INFLATION!
What My Life Would Have Cost in 1950
- Author Bennett Kleinman
In 1950, the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar was more than 13 times greater than it is today, meaning your money went much further, at least when it came to certain expenses. For instance, the average cost of a brand-new Chevrolet sedan was just $1,450 that year, the equivalent of around $19,416 today when adjusted for inflation. The median price for a single-family home, meanwhile, was only $7,354, or around $98,474 in today’s money. (If only!)
That said, salaries were lower in the mid-20th century as well. The median salary was $3,135 (around $41,979 in today’s dollars) for white working individuals and $1,569 (around $21,009 today) for people of color — a discrepancy caused by the discriminatory hiring practices of the time. That’s compared to a nationwide median annual salary of $63,128 today.
But even accounting for the lower household income in 1950, the relative purchasing power was greater at the onset of the ’50s than it is today. For instance, it took about 2.5 years’ worth of paychecks for a person earning the average salary for white workers in 1950 to afford a new home, while the median cost of a new home today is nearly six times the average salary.
It’s a refrain you hear a lot — life used to be much more affordable. Which got me wondering: What would my own lifestyle have cost if I lived in 1950? Would my monthly bills as a New York City resident be substantially easier to manage?
To investigate, I took a look at the cost of housing, food, and even Yankees tickets in 1950 and input the values into inflation calculators from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, taking the rough average of values from the start and end of the year 1950. Here’s what I found.
Monthly Rent
According to housing data from the 1950 U.S. census, the average rent of an apartment in New York City that year was $49 per month (around $656 in today’s dollars). Unsurprisingly, rents were higher in Manhattan — the borough I live in — at $56 per month (equal to around $752 today). Rents on my exact block in the Murray Hill neighborhood were higher still, coming in at $88 per month (around $1,181 adjusted for inflation).
Much to my chagrin, this is a far cry from what I’m paying monthly today. Let’s put it this way: While someone living in my building earning the median salary (for white workers) in 1950 would’ve put roughly a third of their annual pay toward rent, the percentage in my own case hovers closer to half.
It’s also worth noting that housing costs in 1950 varied substantially throughout Manhattan, depending on the neighborhood. Rents dipped as low as $14 per month (equal to around $192 today) in the city’s Two Bridges neighborhood — an area next to the Brooklyn Bridge that has no personal residences today. On the other end of the spectrum, the block between 58th and 59th streets along the East River was among the most expensive in the entire city, where average rents totalled $384 per month (around $5,144 adjusted).
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Sports Tickets
I’m a huge fan of the New York Yankees and go to roughly 40 games each year. Depending on where you sit, the price of tickets today can range from affordable to exorbitant. It’s not uncommon to pay as little as $10 for seats in the upper deck or bleachers, though luxury seats behind home plate may come with a face value exceeding $1,000 depending on the day of the week and opponent. Personally, I like to sit in the lower level toward the outfield, where seats tend to range between $50 to $100, depending on demand.
Back in 1950, on the other hand, the idea of paying $1,000 or even $100 to attend a Yankees game was unheard of. Admission to the bleachers for the 1950 season cost 60 cents (the equivalent of around $8 today), and seats in the grandstand were around $1.25 (equal to about $16.74 today). And the cost didn’t balloon much higher for the prime seats closer to home plate. For instance, a ticket stub from July 16, 1950, shows a price of $2.50 (around $33.48 adjusted for inflation) for box seats in section 10 of the old stadium. Similar tickets in the current stadium would cost around $250 in today’s dollars.
Even World Series tickets were relatively reasonable back in the day. Just look at this stub from Game 3 of the 1950 World Series, which cost $6.00 (equal to around $80 today) for a reserved lower-level seat. When the Yankees made it to Game 3 of the World Series in 2024, I paid around $250 for my seat in a similar location. (That game and the rest of the series turned out to be among the most soul-crushing sporting experiences I’ve had — but that’s a story for another day.)
Groceries
It’s not all bad news for denizens of the 21st century, however. In 1950, many grocery staples cost more than they do today if you account for inflation. One example is dairy products. According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, a gallon of fresh milk at the grocery store cost roughly 77 cents in 1950 (around $10 adjusted for inflation). Today, the average price for a standard gallon of milk is just under $4. Basic eggs were also costlier, as the price for a dozen averaged roughly 53 cents (equal to around $7.10 today). But at my local grocery, I can get a dozen eggs for around $2.86, assuming I stick to basic brands instead of organic or cage-free.
Another food that has gotten cheaper is beef: A pound of hamburger meat was priced around 51 cents in 1950 (roughly $6.83 adjusted for inflation), whereas if I run to my local Trader Joe’s the cost for a pound of ground beef is about $6.49. A pound of white bread was also more of a relative financial burden 75 years ago, albeit only slightly. In 1950, you would have paid 14 cents (around $1.87 adjusted for inflation), while at my Trader Joe’s it’s $1.81.
And a pound of basic coffee would have run you an average cost of 75 cents (around $10 adjusted), compared to the $9.26 people pay on average today. However, I do like to splurge on specialty brews from a company called Joshua Tree Coffee, but even then I’m only paying $16 per pound for a high-quality artisanal product. A pound of white sugar — a necessity for those occasions where I’ve baked banana bread or carrot cake — cost roughly 48 cents (around $6.43 adjusted for inflation) in 1950, but is priced around 99 cents today. A pound of bananas was priced around 17 cents in 1950 (equal to roughly $2.28 in today’s dollars), while the average cost today is just 66 cents.
When I fill up my grocery cart, it can feel like I’m breaking the bank with just the basics. But when you dig into the numbers, it turns out that the relative price would have been even steeper in 1950. While you could fill up a cart for $10 back then, $10 was a hefty chunk of most people’s household income.
Dining Out
One of the things I enjoy most about living in New York is taking advantage of the city’s excellent food scene, but dining out comes at a cost — and unlike groceries, it’s a higher relative cost than it would have been if I lived here in 1950.
For example, 75 years ago, it would’ve cost me no more than 15 cents for a slice of classic New York pizza — around $2 adjusted for inflation. But the median price of an average plain slice is now around $3.81, including at my neighborhood slice shop Libretto’s. The difference is even more stark when eating at a fancy restaurant. Let’s look at my favorite steakhouse, Keens Steakhouse on 36th Street. While I don’t exactly frequent the establishment, it’s always nice to go for a special occasion — and it would have been less of a splurge in the mid-20th century.
This local institution is known for its famous mutton chop, which was priced at $3.45 back in 1950 (around $46.20 when adjusted for inflation). I like to order an appetizer and dessert as well, so let’s add in a shrimp cocktail, priced at $0.85 in 1950 (equal to around $11.38 in today’s dollars) and an order of ice cream at $0.35 (equal to around $4.69 today). Also, 1950 was before New York state instituted any sales tax, and people commonly tipped around 10% on their bill, bringing the total cost of the full meal at Keens to around $5.12 (around $68.56 adjusted for inflation). But if I order those same exact menu items today, the mutton chop will run me $73, the shrimp cocktail $29, and the ice cream $11. Add in tax and tip and I end up with a total bill of around $145.49 for my fancy dinner.
Travel
I love road trips and try to take at least one a year — I recently drove across the country from NYC to the Pacific Northwest, down into northern California, across to Utah, and back. If I were driving across the country back in 1950, I could expect to see a gallon of gas cost about $0.27 (around $3.62 adjusted for inflation) — making it total about $4.05 (around $54.23 adjusted for inflation) to fill up a typical 15-gallon tank. Today, the national average for a tank of gasoline hovers around $2.85, meaning if I were to fill up the 15-gallon tank of the Mazda I often drive, it would only run me $42.75 — cheaper in terms of relative cost.
Flying is also relatively cheaper today than it was in 1950. At the end of 2025, I took my first flight to Europe, which cost me $1,000 for round-trip airfare. But back to 1950, we were still in the nascent days of commercial aviation, and flying was more of a luxury than commonplace. This meant that ticket prices were sky high — the cost of air travel didn’t come down until the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. The average round-trip ticket for a transatlantic flight from New York City cost roughly $675 in 1950 (around $9,038 when adjusted for inflation). That’s more than nine times higher in terms of relative cost than what I paid to cross the ocean two months ago, bringing into question whether I could’ve even afforded the trip back in 1950.
Clothing
The 1950 Sears catalog provides some great insight into what I might have paid for clothes in 1950, and in this particular area of life, the difference isn’t significant. Back then, formal button-down collared shirts ranged between $1.69 and $3.85 (around $22.63 to $51.55 when adjusted for inflation). Casual cotton button-down tops went for $1.57 (equal to roughly $21.02 today), while nicer wool tops were priced around $7.50 (equal to around $100.43 today). Socks hovered between 39 cents to $1.49 for a package of four to five (around $5.22 to $19.95 in today’s dollars), and tees cost $1.75 to $2.75 (around $23.43 to $36.82 adjusted for inflation). Your typical pair of Levi’s jeans — a staple of my wardrobe — cost $3.50 in 1950 (around $46.87 adjusted for inflation).
All in all, the prices were largely in line with what I spend on clothing today. The exception may be socks and tees — which are slightly costlier now — but otherwise I rack up similar bills when shopping at places such as Uniqlo or Kohl’s.
Public Transit
While I don’t take the subway or bus daily, I do take it regularly, and it’s quite surprising to learn that I’m paying double the relative cost that transit riders would have paid in 1950. Earlier this month, standard New York City subway and bus fares increased from $2.90 to $3.00 a ride. But back in 1950, the fare was just 10 cents, or around $1.34 when adjusted for inflation. It’s a small difference, but one that adds up if you take public transit regularly, making this aspect of city life slightly more affordable for the New Yorkers of yesteryear.
5 Unbreakable Olympic Records
Every four years, the world watches as elite athletes push themselves to ever greater heights in search of Olympic gold — and, perhaps, even a new Olympic record. Some records, however, stand so far above the rest that they seem destined to endure forever. An “unbreakable” record, of course, is a little hard to prove, but some feats — such as the five below — are so exceptional that it seems unlikely they will be bested anytime soon.
Usain Bolt’s 100 Meters
During the 2012 London Games, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt set a new Olympic record time of 9.63 seconds in the 100-meter dash. The record has yet to be beaten at the Olympics and would have represented the absolute pinnacle of human speed if it weren’t for Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds, set at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin. (Bolt reached an astonishing 27.8 mph when he hit full stride.)
Bolt is a towering figure, quite literally, among his rivals. The fastest sprinters tend to be comparatively short and compact in comparison to Bolt’s frame of 6 feet, 5 inches, which allowed him to complete a 100-meter race in around 41 steps — three to four steps fewer than his competitors. His perfect technique, peak competition form, and biomechanical uniqueness may never be seen again, making it unlikely that his record will be beaten in the foreseeable future.
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Bob Beamon’s Long Jump
When Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters at the 1968 Mexico City Games, he didn’t just beat the Olympic record — he obliterated it. Prior to his jump, the record tended to be surpassed by just a few centimeters each time. But Beamon beat the existing world record by a staggering 55 centimeters, in what was soon dubbed the “leap of the century.”
Not even the judges were ready for such a feat. The electronic measuring equipment went up to only around 8.5 meters, so an old-fashioned steel tape had to be found. American athlete Mike Powell eventually broke the world record in 1991 with a jump of 8.95 meters, but Beamon’s leap is still the Olympic record more than half a century later. It remains to be seen whether it will ever be surpassed on the Olympic stage.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s Heptathlon Haul
At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, Jackie Joyner-Kersee proved that while she may not have been the best in the world in any one of the heptathlon’s events, she was the best in the world at doing all seven. Finishing with 7,291 points, she beat her own previous world record, which she had set four times since 1986. At the time, no other woman had scored more than 7,000 points — but Joyner-Kersee had done it five times. Almost four decades later, her Olympic record still stands.
In 2005, reigning heptathlon Olympic gold medalist Carolina Kluft said that Joyner-Kersee’s record was “probably unbeatable.” That may well be true, but American athlete Anna Hall is intent on trying. In 2025, Hall scored 7,032 at a competition in Austria, which is tied for the second-highest scorer ever — but still 259 points behind the Olympic and world record. She’s certainly receiving good advice in her quest for the record, as her mentor is none other than Jackie Joyner-Kersee herself.
Nadia Comăneci’s Perfect 10
In 1976, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci became the first gymnast to earn a perfect score of 10 at the Olympic Games. She was only 14 years old when she competed at the Montreal Olympics and got a perfect score on the uneven bars. It was so unexpected that even the scoreboards weren’t prepared. Being unable to display the four digits required for 10.00, they instead had to display each judge’s score as 1.00.
Incredibly, Comăneci went on to record a perfect 10 six more times, while also becoming the youngest all-around Olympic gold medalist. Though other Olympic gymnasts have scored a perfect 10 since then, there will never be another first.
Michael Phelps’ 28 Olympic Medals
American swimmer Michael Phelps won an amazing 28 Olympic medals during his career, a feat that may well be impossible to surpass. A staggering 23 of those medals were gold — more than double the count of his nearest rivals. The previous record holder for the most Olympic medals accumulated was (and still is) Soviet Union gymnast Larisa Latynina, who won 18 medals (nine of them gold) from 1956 to 1964.
After a long and glorious career, Phelps hung up his Speedos and retired after the 2016 Games, fairly secure in the knowledge that his reign of dominance — and his medal haul — may not be surpassed by any future Olympian.
6 Jobs That Paid More in the Past
Today, the future is full of big promises, and careers in fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and climate science are expected to produce the next generation of top earners. But history reminds us that many of the jobs that once paid really well no longer deliver the same economic security. Over the years, technology, deregulation, and shifting markets have steadily eroded pay and bargaining power. These six occupations are reminders that even the most lucrative careers can shift with the changing times.
Stockbroker
In the 1950s through the early 1980s, stockbrokers occupied an elite position in the American labor market. Trading commissions were fixed, information was scarce, and brokers acted as essential gatekeepers to financial markets. While precise figures are difficult to pin down because compensation was heavily commission-based and not consistently captured in government wage data, average salaries in 1969 ranged between $13,000 and $20,000, or $118,000 to $182,000 when adjusted for inflation. Top performers could earn much more, and regulations effectively guaranteed commissions.
Deregulation on May 1, 1975, known as “May Day,” eliminated fixed commissions and fundamentally changed the industry. Discount brokerages, online trading platforms, and algorithmic trading stripped individual brokers of their pricing power. But even with the new rules, many brokers continued to command impressive salaries into the 1980s, with an average salary of $79,000 in 1985 — or $242,000 in today’s dollars. Currently, the median salary for a securities, commodities, and financial services salesperson sits around $78,000 annually. Some brokers still earn commissions or performance-based bonuses on top of their base pay, but commissions are typically smaller and less central to earnings than they once were. While a small minority still earn very high incomes, the average stockbroker now makes a fraction of what the role once commanded.
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Airline Pilot
Commercial airline pilots were once among the most highly paid professionals in the transportation sector. In 1978, the average annual salary for a pilot was $57,000, with senior captains at major U.S. airlines earning as much as $110,000, along with generous pensions, defined-benefit retirement plans, and strong job security. Today, those salaries would be equivalent to around $300,000 to $570,000.
The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and the subsequent rise of regional and low-cost carriers altered industry structure and compensation patterns, with many pilots at smaller carriers earning far less than those at major airlines. The loss of strong union bargaining power further reduced compensation. While senior captains at major airlines can still earn high salaries, the median airline pilot today earns closer to $138,000, and many pilots earlier in their career earn far less.
Steelworker
In the mid-20th century, unionized steelworkers formed the backbone of American industrial prosperity and were among the best-paid blue-collar workers in the country. In 1965, a steelworker’s average weekly pay was around $145 — about $7,540 annually, or $78,000 adjusted for inflation. The job came with secure pensions, employer-paid health care, and strong labor union protections reinforcing long-term security.
Beginning in the 1970s, global competition, automation, and the restructuring of domestic manufacturing sharply reduced employment and weakened labor’s bargaining power. Foreign steel imports, plant closures, outsourcing, and declining union membership eroded both wages and benefits. Today, U.S. steelworkers earn closer to $62,000 annually on average, and there are far fewer of the lifetime benefits that once defined the job. In real terms, total compensation has fallen substantially from its midcentury peak, even as productivity demands have increased.
Journalist
Journalism was once a reliable middle-class career, particularly at metropolitan newspapers. By the end of the 1950s, staff reporters earned around $122 per week — about $6,300 annually or just over $70,000 in today’s dollars — with editors and senior correspondents earning more, especially at major city papers. Newspapers enjoyed near-monopoly control over local advertising, which provided a steady revenue stream that funded large newsrooms, foreign bureaus, investigative desks, and long-term careers. Unionization through organizations such as the American Newspaper Guild reinforced job security and standardized pay scales.
The collapse of print advertising, the rise of digital media, and consolidation in the industry dismantled that model. Today, the median journalist salary in the U.S. is around $57,500, and many reporters earn significantly less, particularly in local newsrooms that have been hollowed out or shuttered entirely. Freelance work, contract roles, and layoffs are common as news organizations struggle to replace lost advertising revenue with subscriptions, platform partnerships, and venture funding, reshaping journalism into a far less stable and lucrative career than it once was.
TV Repair Technician
In the early decades of television ownership, repair technicians were indispensable. In 1960, a skilled technician typically earned about $100 to $130 per week — roughly $5,000 to $6,700 annually, or approximately $50,000 to $75,000 in today’s dollars. These experts serviced expensive television sets that households expected to maintain for years. Televisions were built with replaceable components, repairs were routine, and service calls were a normal part of ownership, keeping trained technicians in steady demand.
Advances in electronics fundamentally changed that economic model. Flat-screen televisions became inexpensive, sealed, and difficult to repair, making replacement cheaper than service and effectively eliminating traditional, consumer-facing TV repair. While some modern electronics technicians earn solid incomes in industrial or specialized technical fields, the closest contemporary equivalent — electrical and electronics repair technicians working outside of manufacturing — has an average annual salary of $41,000.
Retail Sales Associate
In the mid-20th century, department store salespeople typically worked full-time schedules and often had access to commissions, employee discounts, and other benefits. While precise wage data for individual sales roles is limited, historical accounts suggest that full-time sales staff at major urban department stores — such as Marshall Field’s, Gimbels, and Macy’s — could earn the equivalent of $50,000 to $70,000 per year in today’s dollars, providing a stable, middle-class income with opportunities for advancement.In contrast, modern retail has shifted heavily toward part-time and seasonal schedules, flat hourly wages, and little to no benefits. The median income for a full-time retail salesperson today is about $34,700 per year, but most work irregular hours with few opportunities for career growth.
Why Do Men’s and Women’s Shoes Have Different Sizes?
If you’ve ever tried on a pair of shoes in your size that didn’t even come close to fitting, it could be because they were labeled for the opposite sex. Men’s and women’s shoes have completely different sizing systems in the United States (unlike most of the world, where sizing is unisex). A women’s size 8 foot, for example, is roughly equivalent to a men’s 6.5 in U.S. sizing. This seemingly arbitrary system leaves many shoe-hunters scratching their heads. Why do we have different numbers for men’s and women’s shoes? Why not just use the same sizes for everyone, regardless of gender?
The First Shoe Sizes
Though the first known description of a shoe-sizing system appears as early as 1688 in England, it wasn’t until the 19th and early 20th centuries that concerted efforts at shoe standardization took place. Manufacturing was becoming increasingly industrialized, and shoemakers were transitioning from custom-made footwear to mass production — which required standardized sizing systems.
In the United States, the first detailed sizing system was introduced by New York businessman Edwin Simpson in the 1880s. He based his sizes on the existing barleycorn system in the U.K.: The British standard for an inch was historically measured as three barleycorns laid end to end, and had long been used to measure bespoke shoes.
Each full U.S. shoe size increases by one-third of an inch (a barleycorn), so to turn a foot measurement into a size number, you multiply the foot length by three (to count how many of those one-third-inch measurements fit) and then subtract a fixed amount: 22 for men’s shoes and 21 for women’s shoes. For example, a man who wears a size 9 typically has a foot about 10 and one-third inches long, because 9 plus 22 is 31 (the barleycorn measurement), and 31 divided by 3 is 10.333 inches.
This subtraction keeps the size numbers small and convenient instead of having much larger sizes such as 30 or 40. The slight difference in how much is subtracted for men’s versus women’s sizes accounts for historical differences in how the sizes were set up. The details of who determined these subtraction amounts has been lost to history, but the resulting sizes are still used to this day.
Simpson’s measuring system was adopted by the Retail Boot & Shoe Dealers’ National Association about a decade later, providing the first nationwide shoe-sizing guidelines. By the 1920s, standardized measuring devices such as the RITZ Stick and the Brannock Device were adopted by stores across the country, further cementing standardized shoe sizes.
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Why Different Sizes for Men and Women?
Somewhere along the line, women’s shoe sizes in the United States were offset from men’s by about 1.5 sizes, though there’s no record of exactly when. But the precise reason for this remains unknown. It wasn’t, as far as we know, a choice made by Simpson — he did take into account shoe widths, and included “slim” and “fat” options in his system, but records did not specify any gender differences.
It does seem probable, however, that the offset was created to account for anatomical differences between men’s and women’s feet. The average male foot is longer, while female feet are relatively narrower with higher arches. By introducing gender-specific sizing, shoes could be more easily tailored and targeted in accordance with the varying needs and preferences of men and women.
When creating shoe lasts — the 3D molds that replicate the shape of a human foot — shoe designers would have been very much aware of the difference in structure between male and female feet. So, it’s logical that differences in sizing would emerge. And once those sizing norms were established, shoe manufacturers and footwear companies would have had little incentive to unify the systems, which would have required retooling and relabeling throughout the market.
Nowadays, shoes don’t really need to have different sizing systems based on gender. Many European countries, after all, use the same shoe sizes for men and women, relying on different designs to accommodate different foot shapes. And while some major shoe companies such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and New Balance now offer unisex sizing with some of their models sold in the United States, they normally use men’s sizing as the base, with conversion charts to help female shoppers. The idea of shifting the whole U.S. shoe industry to a truly unified sizing system, and forgoing the gender offset altogether, is likely just as unappealing to manufacturers now as it was a century ago.