Prices and Wages by Decade: 1870-1879

Lists wages for apothecaries, book binders, bakers, barbers, brick makers, cooks, dressmakers, fishermen, florists, gardeners, grave diggers, hatters, jewelers, leather tanners, locksmiths, nurses, plumbers, watch makers, distillery workers, ship builders, seamen, deck hands, shepherds, tailors, waiters, factory workers making carriages, pianos and organs and much more than can be listed here. Wages for jobs in cotton mills, woolen mills and paper mills, iron foundries and machine shops which could include carpenters, engineers, blacksmiths, firemen as well as spinners, dyers, etc. Wage tables extend from p. 201-223 so be sure to scroll forward in the volume.

Very simple table compares average wages in the US, Great Britain, Paris France and Liege Belgium for each year from 1870-1898.

Lists daily wages for many occupations including blacksmiths, bricklayers, cabinet makers, carpenters, railroad conductors, railroad engineers, street laborers, machinists, house painters, stone masons, teamsters, plumbers, and more, in the U.S. cities of Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Richmond, St. Louis, St. Paul and San Francisco. The last column provides an average across all of these cities.

Lists average monthly earnings with board, by geographic divisions. Data for years: 1818, 1826, 1830, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1909, 1919, 1929, 1940, 1948.

This source shows the national average for daily and monthly wages of hired farm labor, with board or without, at harvest or at other times.

Browse this book's table of contents for wage rates for all states and the US as a whole, including some rates from prior to 1866.

Published in 1886 as part of the 10th U.S. Census. Also printed in Serial Set Vol. 2150.

Extensive tables show average wages paid each year for a variety of occupations, reported by state and sometimes by city, often broken out by sex, in the following industries:

• Building trades, 1840-1900
  Listed wages for bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, stationary engineers, stationary firemen, hod carriers, building laborers, marble cutters, stone masons, painters, plasterers, plumbers, stone cutters, granite cutters and tile layers.
• Clothing manufacture, 1851-1898
  Listed wages for dressmakers and sewing machine operators
• Farm labor, 1841-1899
For further time series data, see USDA data showing farm labor wages from 1866-1920.
• Glass and clay products, 1841-1898
  Listed wages for glass blowers, potters, kiln placers and turners.
• Iron and steel workers, 1840-1899
  Listed wages for furnace keepers for pig-iron blast furnaces and other jobs in iron and steel.
• Laborers, 1840-1900
• Leather products, 1855-1900
  Listed wages for shoemakers, leather cutters, stitchers, vampers, lasters and tanners.
  
• Metal trades other than iron or steel, 1840-1900
  Listed wages for blacksmiths in railroad shops, machine shops and other places, boiler makers in foundries and machine shops, core makers, horseshoers, foundry laborers, lathe hands, machinists, millwrights in flour mills and other places, iron molders, pattern makers, tool and die makers.
• Coal mine and iron mine industries, 1840-1900
  Wages for coal mine drivers, loaders, coal miners, iron miners, drilling machine operators, timbermen for the mines,
• Printing and publishing, 1842-1900
  Wages for bookbinders, press feeders, proof readers, compositors for newspapers and other shops, pressmen (operators of the printing press), stereotypers
• Textiles - Cloth manufacture, 1842-1900
  Wages for doffers, drawing frame tenders, cotton dyers, loom fixers, cotton spinners, cotton weavers
• Textiles - Hosiery and underwear manufacture, 1842-1900
  Wages for knitters of hosiery and underwear, weavers and winders of silk goods, dressers and dyers of woolen and worsted goods, loom fixers, spinners, wool sorters
• Tobacco product manufacture, 1860-1900
  Wages for cigar makers, tobacco stemmers and strippers
• Transportation industry wages, 1840-1900
  Wages for railroad brakemen, conductors for passenger railroads, conductors for freight railroads, locomotive engineers and firemen, longshoremen, 1-horse teamsters, 2-horse teamsters and teamsters non-specified.
• Woodworking trades, 1845-1900
  Wages for cabinet makers, coopers, sawyers, loggers, lumber laborers, woodworkers

The best source for school teacher wages are state government publications. If you do not see the state/year you are looking for, do not hesitate to contact us.

• California average statewide teacher wages, 1871, 1872 and 1873
• California teacher wages by sex by county, 1872 and 1873
In 1872, women were earning as low as $40 per month in one county, whereas men were averaging $168 in another county.

Detailed breakouts by occupation, without board. Also tells the number of hours per week typically worked.

This report from the Missouri Immigration Society showed average wages paid to bookkeepers, bartenders, teamsters, laborers, plasterers, painters, carpenters, bricklayers, stone masons, dry goods clerks, clothing house clerks, grocery clerks and drug store clerks. Published in 1880, it probably drew from 1870s data. This is not a government document.

Bibliography of California state government publications tells what books list wages for various occupations including teachers (1850s-1880s), railroad employees (1870s-1880s), farm workers (1890s), miners and lumbermen (1902), and sailors (1904).

This series of Municipal Year Books from New Haven, Connecticut, show salaries for police, firemen, school teachers, principals, building inspectors, clerks and other jobs working for city government.

Reports monthly wages paid in January and July of each year to individual, unnamed male and female employees in a variety of jobs at selected establishments in the northeast U.S. This advantage of the source is that it tracks how much individual businesses paid for specific jobs over several decades, and it shows pay for male and female employees, sometimes for the same job title (see example). Pay for apprentices or "learners" are listed separately from more experienced staff. Industries covered: agricultural implement manufacture (MA), ale, beer and porter (NY), book and newspaper publishers (CT, NY, MD), building trades (CT, MD, MA, NJ, NY, PA, RI), railroad car and ship building (DE), wagon and carriage manufacture (NY), city public works (MA, NY, PA) and cotton milling (MA). Source: 1893 report of the U.S. Congressional Committee on Finance titled "Wholesale prices, wages and transportation."

This is an index to topics covered in all labor statistics bureaus, both state and federal and even some foreign countries. There are ten pages of entries under "Wages" listing wages shown in state and federal reports. Find report abbreviations spelled out here. The strategy for using this source is to identify a report you want to track down and then look for it in Hathi Trust's online digital library. Contact us if you would like assistance with this.

Lists wages for occupations such as blacksmiths, bricklayers, cabinet makers, carpenters, street laborers, machinists, house painters, stone cutters, teamsters, and more. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin no. 22, published May 1899.

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor, No. 18, Volume III. Published September 1898.

Full title: "State of Labor in Europe, 1878: Reports from the United States Consuls in the several countries of Europe on the rates of wages, cost of living to the laborers...." Includes detail on the countries of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain. See a single table showing wages expressed in dollars for all countries and many occupations, comparing those wages to that in the United States.

Very simple table compares average wages in the US, Great Britain, Paris France and Liege Belgium for each year from 1870-1898.

Wages expressed in pounds, shillings and pence for agricultural laborers, shepherds, masons, bricklayers, carpenters, blacksmiths, cooks, grooms, gardeners, laundresses, maids, nursemaids, household servants, ocean seamen, and more. Source: 1873 edition of the Victorian year-book, an Australian government publication.

Lists wages in pounds, shillings and pence for the above occupations and also for workers employed in printing and publishing, watchmakers, jewelers, tinsmiths, ironworkers, plumbers, gasfitters, carriage makers, painters, saddlers, workers on boats, ship carpenters, cabinet makers, coopers, tailors, milliners, dressmakers, boot makers, hatters, carpet salesmen, butchers, bakers, teamsters, tanners, brickmakers, miners, engineers, legal managers in mining industry, and more.

Brief 30-page booklet reviews overall wage trends from 1800-1899. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Staff Paper #2.

Discusses prices of farm machinery for 1860, 1880, 1890, 1895 and 1900. Provides breakdowns by machine category and type.

Shows retail prices for dry goods such as fabrics and soap, as well as groceries such as meats, fish, beans, coffee, tea, potatoes, sugar, milk, eggs, rice, butter, cheese and more. Many tables covering differing sets of years, but all falling within the time frame 1850s-1880s.

Tells prices in many different U.S. cities and states for the years 1851 through 1880.

Provides detailed data by state and by county. Taken from the 1871 U.S. Bureau of Statistics publication, "Information for immigrants relative to the prices and rentals of land, the staple products...kind of labor in demand [and] tables showing the average weekly wages paid in the several states and sections for factory, mechanical and farm labor; the cost of provisions, groceries, dry goods and house rent in the various manufacturing districts of the county, in the year 1869-1870."

In this 1880 publication "Handbook of Missouri" from the Missouri Immigration Society (not a government agency), a detailed section for counties begins on page 75. Most of the county entries include a section titled "Price of Land," such as these: Andrew County, Atchison County, Audrain County, Barry County, Barton County, etc.

Average railroad passenger fare (ticket price) expressed in cents per mile.

The 1878 book, Practical suggestions to the American Tourist Visiting Europe for the First Time contains a chapter beginning on page 15 titled "Expenses of a tour." This is not a government document.

Chart shows postal rates for mailing a domestic letter. Source: the Historian of the U.S. Postal Service.

Look up by year, then state, then city, then title to find the cost of a newspaper subscription.

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor, No. 87, Volume XX. Published March 1910.

Prices of food products (meat, vegetables, dairy), tobacco, soap, candles, salt, wine, rum, whiskey, brandy, and more. Prices expressed in pounds, shillings and pence. Source: 1873 Victorian year-book, an Australian government publication.

Source: 1888-1889 Victoria year-book, an Australian government publication.