Prices and Wages by Decade: 1800-1809

Table reports annual data for price of wheat and fowls as well as wages paid for one day's service for every year from 1793-1846.

Source tells the price paid by the federal government to supply the Navy. Individual prices include for a barrel of beef, pork or flour; for bread, rice, cheese, suet and butter by the pound, and for gallons of molasses, vinegar, and spirits. Clothing prices are itemized for suits ($19 each), caps, pairs of shoes, watch coats, and knapsacks ($1 each)

Chart provides prices for particular foods, articles of clothing, shoes, various household supplies and construction materials in two New Hampshire towns.

Source: the Sixteenth annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, for 1885.

• Dairy products
  Price per pound of butter back to 1760s;eggs and cheese back to 1750s;quarts of milk back to 1770s.
• Food preparations
  Prices for individual biscuits back to 1770s, sugar, salt and tea back to 1750s.  Bread, lemons, chocolate, coffee, crackers, raisins, lard, macaroni, molasses, and more.  Tea is extensively subdivided by type and priced by the pound.
• Flour and Meal
  Flour, buckwheat flour, graham flour, "Indian Meal," rye meal, oatmeal, wheat bran and more priced by the pound or bushel.
• Agricultural products (Fruits, vegetables, grains)
  Reported for almost every year as far back as the 1750s.
• Meats and Nuts
  Prices by the pound for bacon, beef, ham, lamb, mutton, pork, etc. in some cases dating to the 1750s.  The table for nuts includes prices by the pound for almonds, filberts and walnuts.
• Poultry and game
  Price per pound of goose, turkey, and poultry back to 1758.
• Fish
  Prices for halibut, herring, haddock, salmon, codfish, eels, etc. by the pound.
• Liquors and Beverages
  Prices for brandy to 1782, cider to 1755, wine to 1783, gin to 1784, rum to 1761, and more.  Prices indicate source in some instances, for example, Gin from Holland or Rum from the West Indies.
• Spices and condiments
  Prices by the pound or ounce for wide variety of spices.  The earliest spice prices date to 1780s.  Price of vinegar dates to 1760s.

Source tells the price paid by the federal government to supply the Navy. Individual prices include for a barrel of beef, pork or flour; for bread, rice, cheese, suet and butter by the pound, and for gallons of molasses, vinegar, and spirits. Clothing prices are itemized for suits ($19 each), caps, pairs of shoes, watch coats, and knapsacks ($1 each)

Chart provides prices for particular foods, articles of clothing, shoes, various household supplies and construction materials in two New Hampshire towns.

Source: Sixteenth annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, for 1885.

• Clothing
  Prices of hats, handerchiefs and stockings back to the 1760s; gloves, breeches, pantaloons, hose and coats back to 1780s; shawls and vests back to the 1790s
• Cloth
  Prices for some types of cloth back to 1770s
• Dress goods
  Prices for alpaca wool and calico by the yard, as well as batiste, cambric, cashmere, crape, gingham, gauze, lawn, muslin, linsey woolsey, plaid, poplin, satin, silk, velvet and many other fabric types, some back to the 1770s but most back to the early 1780s.  More fabrics are listed under the Dry Goods heading.
• Dry goods
  Prices for blankets back to the 1780s, cotton flannel, damask and denim, diaper cloth, shirtings, ticking, and more, some dating to the 1750s.
• Boots, shoes and leather
  Prices reported by the individual pair or by component such as buckles, leather, buttons, braid, fringe, etc. Detailed prices for style and type of shoe, boot, sandal, slipper, rubber overshoe, etc.  Earliest price dates to 1750s.
• Buttons and dress trimmingsButton prices reported by the dozen.  Fringe and tape by the yard.  Earliest price dates to 1780s.
• Ribbons and laces
  Prices date to 1783.
• Small wares
  Yarn, needles, pins, embroidery silk, cotton and linen thread.  Some prices date to 1770s.

Chart provides prices for particular foods, articles of clothing, shoes, various household supplies and construction materials in two New Hampshire towns.

The 1872 Report of Commissioners on Bureau of Labor Statistics to the [New Hampshire] Legislature is an incredibly rich source of both prices and wages dating as far back as the 1600s. The book is not organized chronologically. Use Hathi Trust's keyword search feature or browse page by page.

Source: Sixteenth annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, for 1885.

• Furniture
  Price of bedsteads, bed cords, bureaus, tables and chairs are listed, with some prices dating to the 1790s.
• Carpetings
  Prices date to 1794.
• Cutlery
  Prices for table knives and forks back to 1780s, and pocket knives back to 1801.
• Paper
  Letter paper, priced by the sheet, dating to 1780s.
• Tallow, candles, soap, etc.
  Soap prices date to 1770s.
• Oils for Illumination
  Oils to light lamps and lanterns, dating back to the 1780s
• Fuel
  Charcoal, oak wood, pine wood, coal, etc.
• Miscellaneous, not elsewhere classified
  Price for brooms, brass kettles, brick, matches, tubs, tumblers, clocks, candlesticks, silver watches, feathers (by the pound), wine glasses and more. Prices for some items date to 1750s.
• Tobacco and snuff
  Prices for cigars by the dozen, and tobacco and snuff by the pound or (sometimes) ounce.  Tobacco prices date to 1760s.

This advertisement in the October 13, 1809 issue of The Enquirer of Richmond, Va. lists prices (in dollars per single ream) for various types of paper.

Chart provides prices for particular foods, articles of clothing, shoes, various household supplies and construction materials in two New Hampshire towns.

Source: Sixteenth annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor

• Tools and implements
  Hoes, shovels, spades, files, etc. priced by the dozen or when sold individually.  Earliest price figure is from 1790s.
• Lumber
  Price for boards, plank, shingles, timber, clapboards, etc. by the foot.
• Tacks, brads and nails
  Priced by the pound.  Earliest prices date to 1790s.
• Rates for carpentry service in Boston, 1800, reported in dollars and cents
  (Decided at a meeting of the town's carpenters in August 1800)
  Framing houses, floors, roofs per square foot or linear foot; Rough boarding, window frames and window caps outside; Sashes, clapboarding, shingling, gutters, facia under eaves, water tables, corners, etc.; Casing and cornices, pedastals and pilasters, luthern windows; Turrets, frontispieces and porticos, outside door cases for brick walls, outside cellar doors; Rough ceilings, casing inside and outside doors and windows, battened doors and shutters, mouldings; Inside door caps, inside window shutters, stairs; Wainscoting, finishing windows inside; Doors; Chimney pieces and casings, floors, fences, posts, gates

We recommend using the Library of Congress' "Chronicling America" website to find prices and subscription rates for individual newspaper titles in specific years. Click into the site and set the year boxes to your date range. Click "GO" and then check the "Show only front pages" box. If the price is not in the masthead, search for publisher's information somewhere in the body of the paper - often in the left column of the front page. Annual subscription rates are likely to be described there.

Chart from the Historian of the United States Postal Service shows price to mail a domestic letter. Not included are postage rates for ship and steamboat letters and "drop letters" (for local delivery), which were assigned different rates.

One company's advertised coach fare was $1 for a five-hour journey from Wilmington to Philadelphia, a distance of about 40 miles. Source: Wilmington Delaware Gazette newspaper, July 12, 1809.

A stage coach company was advertising fares between Petersburg VA and Charleston SC at 7 cents per mile with a 20 pound baggage allowance. Source: Richmond VA Enquirer, January 14, 1808.

Papers at the Maryland Historical Society show anecdotally that one person's expenses for ocean passage amounted to $80.64. Source: Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science publication, 1904.

Advertisement for Rumford Academy in the January 13, 1809 issue of the Virginia Argus of Richmond, Va. gives prices (in pounds) for board and tuition.

Advertisement for a private day and night school in Richmond tells tuition (in dollars). From the March 18, 1808 issue of The Enquirer of Richmond, Va.

Advertisement for a private boarding school for boys and girls in Albemarle County with prices (in pounds) for boarding and tuition, including individual cost per term and cost of services like wardrobe care. From the December 26, 1806 issue of the Virginia Argus of Richmond, Va.

Advertisement for Wingfield Academy in the December 21, 1805 issue of The Enquirer of Richmond, Va. gives cost (in pounds) of board, tuition, and washing.

This article in the August 1, 1804 issue of The National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser explains some costs (in dollars) of attending Georgetown College.

Lists average price for land near towns, the cost of rent and wholesale prices for food such as butter, cheese, potatoes, lard, codfish, wheat, corn, rice, flour, herring and ham. Also includes the price of tobacco and tallow. Covers the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Charleston, and includes a "U.S. average." Source: History of wages in the United States from Colonial times to 1928.

This amazing table shows wholesale (not retail) prices per pound for wheat flour, sugar, raw cotton, wool, nails, etc. as well as wholesale prices per yard of cotton sheeting, per ton of coal, gallon of turpentine, per 1000 bricks, and more for every year from 1800-1970. Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.

Find wholesale prices for hundreds of items in "Philadelphia Prices Current," published weekly in the Philadelphia newspaper Gazette of the United States & Daily Advertiser.

The newspaper Ming's New-York Price Current listed the price of foods, beans, meats, nuts, wine, rum, spices; building materials including nails, lumber by the type of wood, shingles, glass panes. Also shows prices for gunpowder, candles, deer skins and fur pelts including beaver, mink, otter, red fox and more.