Library Guides: Prices and Wages by Decade: 1910-1919

Wages, 1910-1919

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PRICES in FOREIGN COUNTRIES

WAGES -- GENERAL SOURCES (all occupations and worker types)

Union wages and hours of labor, 1907-1919
Wage data is arranged by occupation and then by city. Example keywords to search on: ship carpenters, machinists, soft-drink establishment employees, waiters, motion picture machine operators, electricians, brewers, chauffeurs, stablemen, roofers, stonemasons, iron, newspaper, painters, plumbers, bookbinders. Some rows specify wages for females (see gender listed next to job title on this example page for laundry work.)
- 1907-1912, pages 68-121
- 1912-1913, pages 79-150
- 1914-1915, pages 22-220
- 1916-1917, pages 74-313
- 1918-1919, pages 69-281
Union wages by city, 1907-1921
The advantage of this table is that it shows wage rates for all the years from 1907-1921 together, so one can easily see changes over time. Lists union wages by city and then by occupation. Cities include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco and Seattle. The limited number of union jobs listed here tend to fall into the building trades, metal work, and manufacturing.
Manufacturing industries - Wages, hours and earnings, 1914-1919
Book titled Wartime Changes in Wages reports wages, hours and earnings by occupation and gender for each year from 1914-1919 in the metal, cotton, wool, silk, boot and shoe, paper, rubber, and chemical manufacturing industries. Published by the National Industrial Conference Board, a group of industry associations.
War and Postwar Wages, Prices, and Hours, 1914-23 and 1939-44
Compares wage rates and hours of work for the WWI and WWII eras, focusing specifically on the manufacturing, mining, railroad, printing and maritime industries, as well as farm labor wages. Discussion puts wage data in context with price levels which were definitely affected by the wars.
African-Americans - Wages by occupation, 1890-1920
The book The Negro Wage Earner is not a government document but it cites government wage data. Use the table of contents to find the chapter on the type of job, then use the "Jump to..." box to quickly land on that page in the volume. Note that the U. S. Census report Negroes in the United States (1904) shows the most common occupations for Negroes in 1890 and 1900.
African Americans' earnings in New York City, ca. 1912
Occupations are discussed in chapter 4 and wages in chapter 5. There is also a section on Negro business enterprises on pages 93-142. Source: The Negro at work in New York city; a study in economic progress, a Columbia University publication.
Congressional salaries, 1789-present
Historical chart shows salaries of members of the U.S. Congress, along with dates of enactment and statutory authority for each pay increase.
Wages by occupation in Massachusetts, 1910
This book collects very detailed statistics of hourly and weekly wages by industry and locality in the state of Massachusetts.
Wages and hours for all union occupations in New York state - 1912
Shows wages by occupation and town in New York state, and shows the separate wages for men and women. This truly amazing source has an extensive list of occupations, including those seldom seen in other documents: theatrical costumers, musicians for silent movie shows, orchestral musicians, house movers, hearse drivers, piano movers, writers working at newspapers (journalists), sail makers, photo-engravers, bartenders in saloons, elevator men in hotels, and thousands more.
Occupations are arranged in large groupings under these subheadings:
- Building and stone working job wages
- Transportation job wages
- Clothing and textile job wages
- Metals, machinery and ship building job wages
- Printing, bookbinding etc. job wages
- Wood working and furniture job wages
- Food and liquor production job wages
- Theater and music job wages
- Tobacco products manufacturing job wages
- Hotel, restaurant and retail trade job wages includes barbers, grocery store workers, clothing salespeople, carpet salespeople, shoe store workers, etc.
- Public employees' wages Includes hospital employees such as nurses, letter carriers, post office clerks, building inspectors, etc.
- Stationary engine tending job wages
- Miscellaneous jobs wages includes paper makers, leather workers, glass bottle blowers, diamond cutters, umbrella makers and more.
Wages paid to workers placed by employment offices, 1918
Wages shown for these occupations in many cities across the U.S.: blacksmiths, boilermakers, bricklayers, carpenters, cleaning women, male cooks, female cooks, drivers and teamsters, dock laborers, farm hands, hod carriers, house servants, inside wiremen, laborers, laundry operators (male and female), machinists, molders, painters, plasterers, plumbers, saleswomen, seamstresses, sewing machine operators, stenographers (male and female), structural iron workers, telephone switchboard operators, waiters, waitresses, “casual workers” (male and female).
Missouri - Average weekly wages for a few occupations, 1914
This table from the 1914 Report of the Missouri Workmen's Compensation Commission includes average weekly wages for a number of occupations in Missouri such as bakers, breweries, electricians, machinists, stevedores, teamsters, and more.
Missouri - Salaries of State Highway Department Personnel, 1917-18 and 1919-20
Both the 1917-18 and the 1919-20 Report of the Missouri State Highway Board contain tables of personnel and salaries, including board members, engineers, stenographers, draftsmen, and more.
Ohio - Average annual wages and salaries by occupation, 1916-1932
The "Service Industries" chapter in this source breaks out wages paid to workers in hospitals, hotels, bowling alleys, theaters, parks, churches, country clubs, athletic clubs and yacht clubs, advertising agencies, banks, laundries, schools/colleges, and restaurants (making no distinction between waiters, cooks or bus boys). Lists wages paid to auto mechanics, office workers, window cleaners, barbers and hairdressers, bartenders in saloons, domestic servants, people working in social agencies, and more. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin, No. 613. Check the Table of Contents page for even more wages in manufacturing and construction industries and for people working in retail trades and in transportation.
Weekly earnings in California, 1913
Tables from California's Bureau of Labor Statistics show how much men and women earned across all industries. By paging forward in the report, one can find breakouts for many individual industries.

WAGES BY OCCUPATION / INDUSTRY

Note: If the job description for any occupation is unclear, we recommend consulting the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Descriptions of Occupations, published 1918.

Boot and shoe manufacturing - Wages and hours, 1910 to 1932
Average hours and earnings by occupation.
Boot, shoe, hosiery and underwear manufacturing wages, 1907-1913
Building and construction trades - Union wages, 1913-1930
Arranged by occupation and then by city and year, this source shows wages and hours for union bricklayers, building laborers, carpenters, cement finishers, inside granite cutters, hod carriers, inside wiremen, painters, plasterers, plumbers, sheet-metal workers, stonecutters and structural iron workers.
Candy makers - Wages in Philadelphia, 1919
Most of the workers in this industry were women and girls. The report goes into great detail on the living expenses these workers had, the degree to which they needed to support family members with their wages, and necessary expenditures.
Carpenter hours and wages by state and city - 1910
Hundreds of towns are included.
Cement industry - Missouri - Weekly wages, skilled and unskilled
Shows weekly wages for 61 different occupations in the Missouri cement manufacturing industry. Includes telephone operators, engineers, bricklayers, electricians, carpenters, yardmen, waiters, and more. Broken out by occupation and give the highest, lowest, and prevailing (average) wage in 1916.
Cigar and clothing industries - Wages and hours of labor, 1911 and 1912
Rates of wages per hour in cigar manufacturing and clothing manufacturing for the years 1911 and 1912. The tables are broken down by occupation and city.
Clothing (men's) manufacturing - Wages, 1911 to 1924
Tells wages for the years 1911 to 1914, 1919, and 1922. The wage data for this bulletin are from establishments engaged in making men’s outer garments—coats, pants, vests, and over-coats—for the trade, or what is commonly known as men’s ready-made clothing. Special-order and merchant-tailor establishments are not included.
Clothing (women's) manufacturing - Piece rates, New York City - 1912 and 1913
This source goes into detail on how employees were paid for piecework, which could include hemming, button sewing, setting the collars, etc. on women's garments.
Clothing (cloak, suit, and skirt manufacture) - Wages, 1912-1913
Wage data for New York City in manufacturer association shops and non-association shops. Source also shows wages for workers in Boston in association shops. See chart showing the difference in pay for males and females in Boston shops.
Coal mining - Hours and earnings, 1919-1933
Cotton goods manufacturing and finishing industry - Wages and hours, 1916
Workers in this industry engaged in spinning, weaving, dyeing, bleaching and printing fabrics in addition to other tasks involved in preparing cloth. Shows data by state for 1914 and 1916.
Cotton goods manufacturing and finishing industry - Wages and hours, 1918
Cotton, woolen, and silk industry wages, 1890-1912
These workers engaged in spinning, weaving, printing, dyeing and otherwise performing tasks for the manufacture of fabrics. Shows hourly wages and typical hours per week.
Coal miners in Missouri - earnings
Broken down by occupation and give average earnings by half month and hourly. Average full time half-month earnings are given by whether the miner did his work by hand or machine, broken down by state.
Engineers, civil - Compensation in the early 1910s
Data from membership of the American Society of Civil Engineers, as reported in the January 7, 1915 issue of Engineering News. The article refers to an earlier article that appeared in the ASCE Proceedings. Neither are government documents.
Engineering graduates' income by years of experience - 1915
Chart shows average income earned by engineering graduates of an unnamed western state university, broken out by the number of years the person has been out of school.
Farm workers - Wages and income, 1909 to 1938
The wage rates broken out by year and geographic location. Wages for farm workers are compared to that of factory workers. Article starts on page 59 of the BLS Monthly Labor Review, July 1939 issue.
Farm laborer wages, 1818-1948
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. Read the explanation and historical context for this table here.
Farm labor (male) - Wages by state in 1910, 1917, 1918
Shows monthly and daily wage rates with and without board, at harvest and at other times. Regional, state and national averages also provided.
Farm owners' income -- Average monetary yield by acre - 1910s
Table shows the average amount of money farmers could gain from an acre of farm land in 1912, 1916, 1917 and 1918 in in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. Also provides a total average monetary annual yield for all farm land in the United States.
Farmers income by state, 1919
Near the bottom of each table, see the number of farms and average income of farms in each state. Scroll forward in the source to see all states. Source: National Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Furniture manufacturing industry - Wages and hours, 1910 to 1929
Average and classified earnings by occupations. Hours worked, overtime and bonuses. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin No. 526
Furniture manufacturing industry - Wages and hours, 1910-1931
Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin No. 571
Government (city) employees - Salaries in New Haven, CT from 1873-1921
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.
Government employee pay in New York state, 1911-1931
This source is entirely about compensation of state and local government employees in New York. See the table of contents for additional tables and discussion.
Government (state) employees in Missouri - 1917
The Missouri Official Manual (Blue Books) series gave the annual or monthly salary of every employee at public colleges, reform schools for youth, mental hospitals, institutions for the handicapped, etc. The data is reported by the institution, by occupation and by person. The figures are not averaged. Find occupations such as dentist, druggist, physician, chaplain, cook, night watchmen, cooks, nurses and attendants. Professors' and teachers' salaries vary by the subject taught.
Higher education - Salaries for college teachers and administrators - 1913
For each of the major state universities in the U.S., this source lists the minimum and maximum salaries paid to college professors (associate, assistant and adjunct), deans, instructors in the prep department, and tutors.

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Source: "Statistics of State Universities and Other Institutions of Higher Education Partially supported By the State for the year ended June 30, 1913; Bulletin 1913, no.60"
Hosiery and underwear manufacturing - Wages and hours, 1907-1932
Iron and steel industry wages and hours, 1907-1931
Iron and steel industry workers, 1907-1924
Earnings per hour, customary hours of labor, and actual hours and earnings in one pay period in 1924 are presented in this report for wage earners in ten departments of the iron and steel industry in the United States. Summary figures for preceding years are also shown for each department.
Judicial branch salaries (federal employees), 1908-1922
Arranged geographically, this source shows the salaries of circuit judges, district judges, U.S. marshals, U.S. attorneys and their assistants, deputies, commissioners, court clerks, office boys, messengers, salaries and wages of employees at U.S. penitentiaries, and more. Source: Register of the Department of Justice and the Judicial Officers of the United States. . Salaries were listed in this publication up through 1922.
Lawyers graduated from Harvard - Average annual earnings, 1914
Data taken from a survey Harvard conducted of its own graduates. Shows how much grads earned based on number of years of experience, from 1-10. This is taken from an article comparing lawyers' earnings to that of teachers. It is not a government document.
Lighthouse and light vessels wages, 1916
This congressional document reports wages for those who tended lighthouses and for workers on light vessels. Source: U.S. Congressional Serial Set #7102.
Lumber, millwork, and furniture industries,1907 to 1913
Figures relating to full-time hours of labor per week and rates of wages per hour are presented for the years 1907 to 1913 inclusive, and for full-time weekly earnings for the years 1910 to 1913 inclusive.
Lumber, millwork, and furniture industries, wages and hours, 1915
Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin No. 225
Manufacturing industry - Average monthly earnings, 1918-1920
Shows breakouts by type of manufacturing operation: automobile manufacture, cigar making, boots/shoe making, men's clothing, iron/steel, hosiery/underwear manufacture, etc. Source: Survey of Current Business . Find additional data by checking other issues of this publication.
Military pay for enlisted men
Many military job titles are listed separately such as electrician, band leader, sergeant major, etc. Pay tables extend from pages 775-782.
Military wages, 1908-1920
Pay and allowances of officers and enlisted men, broken out by branch of service (Amy, Navy, Marine Corps) and by rank and job title, for the years 1908, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920.

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Source: Soldiers' adjusted compensation: hearings before the [House] Committee on Ways and Means ... on several bills providing beneficial legislation for soldiers and sailors in the World War, March 2-24, 1920.
Prisoner of war wages - World War I
Discussion on pages 56-65 of History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army, 1776-1945. The 1918-1919 Annual Report of the War Department tells that prisoners of war interned at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, were paid 25-35 cents per day.
Railway workers' hours and wages by occupation, 1914-1923
Source: Wages, hours and employment of railroad workers published 1924 by the National Industrial Conference Board.
Railway employees, Missouri - Average annual earnings, 1916-1917
Lists the average annual wage of different classifications of railroad employees and average daily wage of each of these classifications.
Shipbuilding industry wages, 1918

Workman in a shipyard, 1917 poster
See wage rates by occupation for shipbuilding workers on the Atlantic coast, Gulf coast and Great Lakes districts, and in the Pacific coast shipyards.
Slaughtering and meat-packing industry, wages and hours - 1917
Railroad cars, building and repair -- Wages, 1907 to 1913
Covers the rates of wages per hour in each year for the major occupations involved in the building and repairing of steam railroad cars. It also includes tables broken down by state.
Street railway employment in the U.S., 1917
Wages, additional compensation, and hours or labor and days worked. For further information on the actual jobs and duties, see also description of occupations in street railway industry.
Woolen and worsted goods manufacturing - Wages and hours of labor, 1910 to 1930
Average earnings and hours worked for workers in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing in 15 states.

Teacher salaries by state, county and city.

FOR ALL STATES, see
CALIFORNIA. (Most data is broken out by women and men teachers).
- 1911-1912
  - Kindergarten teacher salaries (100% women teachers)
  - Elementary school teacher salaries
  - High School teacher salaries
- 1913-1914
  - Kindergarten teacher salaries (100% women teachers)
  - Elementary school teacher salaries
  - High school teacher salaries
- 1915-1916
  - Kindergarten teacher salaries (100% women teachers)
  - Elementary school teacher and principal salaries
  - High school teacher and principal salaries
- 1918
- For additional California school reports dating from 1866-1937, see the record in Hathi Trust.
GEORGIA.
- 1911
  - School teacher salary general summary (see "Statistical Summary")
  - School teacher salaries by county and by male/female
- 1915 and 1916
  - Statewide summary of teacher salaries by race and sex
  - School teacher salaries by county, and further broken out by race and sex of teacher
- 1919
  - School teacher salary statewide averages by race and sex of teacher, broken out by grammar school and high school
- For additional Georgia school reports dating from 1879-1922, see the Hathi Trust record.

Women's Wages by State - 1910s

Because women's wages varied a great deal around the country in the 1910s, most wage data is reported by state. In addition to the state-by-state links below, see also the links above for school teachers, clothing manufacture and laundry work, as women workers were heavily concentrated in those jobs. See list of the most common occupations for women in 1910 and 1920, outside of agricultural work.

District of Columbia - Women's wages in 1913
Reports hours and wages for women working in retail stores, factories, hotels, restaurants and offices. Some occupations include cashier, saleswoman, laundry worker, baker, shirt maker, seamstress, milliner, typist, waitress, maid, dishwasher, bookkeeper.

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Source: Serial Set Vol. No. 6460, Session Vol. No.94, 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, H.Doc. 1461
Indiana - Women's wages, hours and working conditions
Covers women's jobs in mercantile establishments and garment factories. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin No. 160.
Maryland and California - Women's wages, hours and working conditions in 1911
There is much information in this 522-page report, especially about working conditions. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin No. 96
New York - Union wages and hours for all occupations by sex - 1912
In a list that spans pages 448-531, one can see unionized jobs, wages and hours for women listed separately from men. Wages are reported by town/city. Women tend to be clustered in certain fields; click these links to jump directly to the sections: Actors and musicians, Tobacco product manufacture, Public hospital nurses and attendants, Post office clerks, Telegraph operators and clothing factory workers, Printing and bookbindery workers. There are more jobs for female workers throughout this extensive table; check the column labeled "Sex" for the letter F for female.
Oregon - Minimum wage for women and girls in the 1910s
Oregon's minimum wage laws for women and girls went into effect in 1913 and 1914. This source documents their actual average earnings before and after the laws took effect.

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U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin #176.
Pennsylvania - Candy makers in Philadelphia, 1919
The report goes into great detail on the workers' living conditions and expenses, and explains how many of them had difficulty living on the low wages.
Changes in women's median wages by state and industry - 1910s-1920s
The purpose of this chapter is to show changes in wages around the time that minimum wage laws for women were being passed. For simplicity, look for tables giving median values. "First quartile" and "third quartiles" are statistical terms explained on page 334.
California, 1914-1925
District of Columbia, 1919-1922
Kansas, 1916-1922
Massachusetts, 1913-1925
Massachusetts, 1910-1922
Oregon, 1917-1918
Washington state, 1913-1914, 1920
History of minimum wage laws for women and children in the U.S. states and Puerto Rico
Use the following quick links to specific states:
Passed law in 1912: Massachusetts
Passed law in 1913: California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Washington state, and Wisconsin,.
Passed law in 1915: Arkansas and Kansas.
Passed law in 1917: Arizona
Passed law in 1918: District of Columbia.
Passed law in 1919: North Dakota, Puerto Rico, and Texas.
See a chart showing rates and detail for Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, Utah and Puerto Rico.
The first federal minimum wage was not enacted until 1938.

Wages in MULTIPLE COUNTRIES, 1910s

Click the tabs above for single countries.

Carpenter wages in English-speaking foreign countries, 1910
Foreign countries include England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. Source: Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor, No. 87, Volume XX. Published March 1910.
European countries - Wages, 1914-1921
Covers Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. Wages expressed in both foreign currency and dollars. Data gathered by the National Industrial Conference Board (a group of industry associations) which used European government publications for information.
European countries - Wages and prices, 1900 and 1910
Consular reports show wages and salaries by job title for countries including Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Japan, Belgium, Spain and more.

Wages in CANADA, 1910s

Canada - Average wages of farm help by province
Covers the years 1909, 1910 and 1914-1916.
Source: Statistics Canada website.

Wages in GREAT BRITAIN, 1910s

United Kingdom - Wages by occupation, 1893-1913
Wages reported in UK government documents.
Great Britain - Wages by occupation and sex, 1914-1921
Shows wages for cities in England, Scotland and Wales in British currency. Tables extend from page 48-66.
Great Britain - Wages by industry, 1914-1921
After the introductory matter on page 95, the wage tables appear on pages 94-96 of this source.

Wages in INDIA, 1910s

India - Wages by geographic area and occupation, 1910s
Shows wages in rupees by provinces and districts for occupations such as agricultural laborer, mason, carpenter, horse-keeper and blacksmith. Scroll forward in the source to find average daily wages in urban areas. Compares wages to data from 1873.

Wages in Russia, 1910s

Russia - Wages and cost of living, 1914-1917
This article describes the rising cost of food and manufactured products in comparison with wages for the pre-revolutionary period. It includes tables of daily wages and costs of principal foodstuffs. Each are listed in both rubles and US currency.

Wages in SWEDEN, 1910s

Sweden - Wages, early 1910s
See section titled "Labor Conditions and Workmen's Wages" starting on page 632. This is taken from the book Sweden; historical and statistical handbook published in Stockholm by the Swedish government in 1914.

Analysis - Wages in the 1910s

Critical analysis of government methods for collecting and reporting wage data in the 1910s.

Are Wages Too High?
Analysis of whether wages were keeping pace with cost of living (i.e. buying power) and whether wages were enough to live on. Provides factory wages in actual earnings and purchasing power, 1899, 1904, 1909, 1914, 1919. All union trades, 1907-1921. Specific building trades, 1913 and 1920. Coal miners 1900-1921, railroad wages 1900-1921. This was published by the People's Legislative Service. It is not a government publication.
Wages and Salaries in Organized Industry
This article in the May 1915 issue of Popular Science magazine suggests that much of the wage data collected by the government was misleading due to misuse of averaging. The author, a professor from the University of Pennsylvania, argues that actual wages for most low-level earners were actually lower than what government reports indicated.

Important Legislation about Wages, 1910s-1920s

Development of minimum wage laws in the U.S., 1912-1927
During the 1910s and 1920s, minimum wage laws were effected by a handful of states and generally applied only to women and children.
Minimum-Wage Legislation in the United States and Foreign Countries
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 167
Compensation Legislation of 1914 and 1915
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 185
Wage-Payment Legislation in the United States
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 229

Prices, 1910-1919

PRICES for FOOD

Average food prices nationwide -- 1913-1919
Nationwide average retail prices are provided on pages 62-69. Lists steak, roast, beef, pork chops, lard, bacon, ham, lamb, canned salmon, eggs, cheese, butter, milk, bread, flour, corn meal, rice, potatoes, granulated sugar, coffee, tea, onions, navy beans, prunes, raisins, margarine, rolled oats, evaporated canned milk, corn flakes, Cream of Wheat, and Crisco by year and month.
Average food prices by city, 1913-1919
. Commissioner investigating food prices in New York City in 1914.
Image credit
Includes all the foods listed above, but breaks out the retail prices by city. Note that each table spans the width of TWO pages. See row labels on even-numbered pages. Click "more..." to see a clickable list of cities.

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Alabama: Birmingham and Mobile.
Arkansas: Little Rock.
California: Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Connecticut: Bridgeport and New Haven.
Colorado: Denver.
District of Columbia: Washington
Florida: Jacksonville
Georgia: Atlanta
Illinois: Chicago, Peoria and Springfield
Indiana: Indianapolis
Kentucky: Louisville
Louisiana: New Orleans
Maine: Portland
Massachusetts: Boston and Fall River
Maryland: Baltimore
Michigan: Detroit
Minnesota: Minneapolis and St. Paul
Missouri: Kansas City and St. Louis
Montana: Butte
Nebraska: Omaha
New Hampshire: Manchester
New Jersey: Newark
New York: Buffalo, Rochester and New York City
Ohio: Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus
Oregon: Portland
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton
Rhode Island: Providence
South Carolina: Charleston
Tennessee: Memphis
Texas: Dallas and Houston
Utah: Salt Lake City
Virginia: Norfolk and Richmond
Washington: Seattle
Wisconsin: Milwaukee
Average retail food prices reported annually from 1890-1970
This one-page table shows the average retail prices for bread, milk, eggs, meats, fruits, vegetables, coffee, beans, sugar, margarine, etc. each year from 1890-1970. Data collection took place in about 30-60 U.S. cities. Jump to page 193 of this resource for an excellent explanation of the historical table and the methodology of data collection.
Average food prices nationwide, comparing 1913 and 2013
See Table 1 on page 2 which shows nationwide price averages for such staples as milk, bread, coffee, potatoes, bacon, ham and sugar for the years 1913 and 2013. Source: U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Average retail prices for food in 24 U.S. cities - 1916
The city of Chicago published this report that drew on retail price data collected from food stores in working class neighborhoods in cities around the nation, including Dayton, Columbus, Jersey City, Oakland and 19 other large U.S. cities. Shows average retail prices for 20 food items.
Food prices by store in selected U.S. cities (NOT averaged), 1912-1913
Shows the retail prices for various foods at a number of stores in each city. The stores are not named and the prices are not averaged together. Includes meats, flour, eggs, butter, potatoes, sugar and milk. Bread is listed in a separate table. Click "more..." to see the cities that are included.

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Alabama: Birmingham
Arkansas: Little Rock
California: Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Connecticut: Bridgeport and New Haven.
Colorado: Denver
District of Columbia: Washington
Florida: Jacksonville
Georgia: Atlanta
Illinois: Chicago
Indiana: Indianapolis
Kentucky: Louisville
Louisiana: New Orleans
Massachusetts: Boston and Fall River
Maryland: Baltimore
Michigan: Detroit
Minnesota: Minneapolis and St. Paul
Missouri: Kansas City and St. Louis
Nebraska: Omaha
New Hampshire: Manchester
New Jersey: Newark
New York: Buffalo and New York City
Ohio: Cincinnati and Cleveland
Oregon: Portland
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton
Rhode Island: Providence
South Carolina: Charleston
Tennessee: Memphis
Texas: Dallas
Utah: Salt Lake City
Virginia: Richmond
Washington: Seattle
Wisconsin: Milwaukee
Food prices by store in selected U.S. cities (NOT averaged), 1915-1916
Tells retail prices of grocery items in various American cities, and even tells the price of various brand names, for example Gold Medal flour, Pillsbury's Best flour, King Arthur flour, etc. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin no. 228.
Grocery catalog from Sears Roebuck, 1918
Catalog shows retail prices of groceries being sold through mail order by Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Food prices in New York state, 1912
Compares wholesalers' cost and retailers' selling price of dairy products, meats, fruit, vegetables, fish, poultry and staple groceries and canned goods in New York state in 1912.
Butter prices in Chicago, 1907-1912
Source analyzes the cost of production and prices to consumer.
Flour prices in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois - 1906, 1910, 1911
Source analyzes the cost of production and consumer prices for hard winter wheat flour.
Food prices paid by farmers, 1910-1943
Prices paid by farmers for a pound of butter, coffee, rice, bacon or lard. Also prices for 24-pound sack of flour and 10-pound sack of sugar. Covers the years 1910-1914 (5 year average), 1919,1929, 1939 and 1943.
Restaurant food and drink prices, 1910s
Detail from restaurant menu in 1919
Image source
The New York Public Library has over 3,000 scanned restaurant menus from the 1910-1919 decade. This is not a government resource but it can be useful for spot-checking prices of specific foods or beverages at restaurants.

PRICES for MERCHANDISE AND DRY GOODS

Prices listed in Sears mail order catalogs, 1910s
Prices found in the Sears catalog are not necessarily average prices for any item, yet we include them here for the researcher's convenience. For quickest results, find product of interest in the catalog index, note the corresponding page number and enter it in the "JUMP TO" box.
Bloomingdale's mail order catalog, 1915
Shows mail order prices for a clothing, jewelry, home decor, linens and furnishings, musical instruments and more.
Macy's mail order catalog, 1911
Find prices for clothing, jewelry, home furnishings, household items including appliances, guns and sporting goods and more. Fully viewable and full-text searchable in the Internet Archive. See index on page 456.
Catalog of ladies' under garments, blouses, etc. - 1917
Catalog lists prices for ladies' underwear and nightgowns but also has some girls' and babies' clothes. Source: Newcomb, Endicott and Co. Magazine of Fashion, Undermuslin, 1917.
Health remedy prices, 1913
Article in Druggist's Circular lists retail prices for dozens of health/beauty products being sold in 1913 which were at best useless and at worst, harmful.
Sporting gear and clothing prices - 1916
Abercrombie & Fitch mail order catalog for Christmas, 1916.
Gun prices, 1911
Extensive section on guns found in the Thomas J. Conroy Illustrated Catalog and Price List.
Average retail price of fabric in 45 cities - 1917
Includes calico, gingham, muslin, percale, flannel, etc. Scroll forward in the source to see the full list of cities.
Average expenditure for individual articles of clothing, 1918-1919
Check expenditure tables carefully for the column labeled "average expenditure per article" to get a rough figure on the amount paid for individual items. Note that Table C is divided by type of family member. Following "Husbands" comes Male Children 15 and older, then Male Children aged 12-15, then Male Children ages 8-12, etc. The section for clothing worn by wives starts on page 183, with female children clothing following, broken out by age groups. Time period for this study: July 1918-Feb 1919. Source: Cost of Living in the United States, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Farm implement prices, 1914-1918
Federal report shows average annual prices for plowshares, walking plows, hay loaders, cultivators, farm wagons, barbed wire, corn binders, mowers and more.
Prices of articles bought by farmers, 1909-1924
Tells how much U.S. farmers paid for farm tools, implements and supplies, work gloves, shirts and shoes, shotguns, tobacco, wagons, building materials such as nails and shingles, and household items such as dishes and fruit jars, washtubs and buckets. US Dept of Agriculture Yearbook gives price data for 1909, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921 and 1922. Prices for 1923 and 1924 begin on page 1152.
Prices of articles bought by Missouri farmers, 1914-1918
Lists items commonly purchased by farmers and their families, including such items as lamps, stoves, tin pails, wooden washtubs; food like coffee, lard and sugar; clothing and more. It also tells how much of these items could be purchased with the money brought in by one acre of cotton, corn, wheat, and other crops. Gives data for the years 1909, 1914, 1915, 1916 and 1917.
Horses and mules - Price per head, 1910-1933
Census table shows the average value of horses and mules.
Horse and carriage supplies price catalog, 1910
Source: Illustrated and descriptive catalog of saddlery, carriage and sleigh trimmings, general store supplies / the James Bailey Company.
Prices of sheets and blankets by U.S. city - 1917-1919
See price of sheets and blankets in Table G, spanning pages 449-461.

PRICES for HOUSING and UTILITIES

Average rent by city, 1918-1919
Data is broken out by income of the renters. Data provided for both large cities and small towns (see list), with further breakouts for the number of rooms and number of occupants in the dwelling. Covers 1918-1919 only. Note: This is a long table; it will be necessary to scroll forward. Source: Cost of Living in the United States, BLS Bulletin #357.
"Building Plans of Modern Homes," with costs for materials and labor, 1914

Building Plans of Modern Homes, a Montgomery Ward catalog, 1914
Montgomery Ward building plan catalog includes estimated, itemized costs of materials and labor for about 80 homes generally in the 1-4 bedroom range, garages, summer cottages, carriage houses featuring horse stalls, and barns.
Home catalog - Montgomery Ward, 1916
The cost of materials for each home is printed in large type at the top of each page. Check under "General Specifications" for an estimated cost to build the home, which will include the cost of labor, brick, plaster, cement and other items not provided by Montgomery Ward. Note that plumbing and heating costs are listed separately as additional options.
Sears home plans with estimated costs to build, 1908-1939
The Sears Archive site has digitized some pages from their home plan catalogs. Selected entries in their list are clickable. Shows drawing of the home, floor plan, and estimated cost to build.
Cost to construct houses, by type of material - 1915
The Building Estimator's Reference Book gives detailed costs for the labor and materials for the construction of houses and office buildings.
Paint cost to cover a home's exterior, 1915
Sears Roebuck paint catalog gives an estimated cost to paint the exterior of various houses. There are more images at the end of their catalog. Elsewhere in the catalog, find Sears' prices for paint, painting supplies, wallpapering supplies, etc.
Price of farm land by county in selected states, 1912-1924
Tables 6-13 show farm land prices by county in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Texas.
Farm real estate values in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, 1912-2018
Shows average value per acre (statewide) for farm real estate including both land and buildings. Table shows price per acre for each year from 1912 to 2018. Compares the figures to the average for all other states.
Room and board rates for federal workers in Washington DC, 1917-18
Discusses the 1918 federal housing plan that provided housing for war industry workers, including women workers in the District of Columbia, who paid $45 per month for a room and two meals per day. Photos and further description of the buildings' interiors and exteriors were published in the Oct 1919 issue of the Monthly Labor Review.
Telephone service rates by city, 1912
The U. S. Census Bureau collected and reported telephone service rates. This link leads to an index by city and states. Note the page number and enter it in the "jump to" box in HathiTrust. Or simply scroll forward in the source. It may be necessary to use the zoom (+) feature to make the figures clearer.
Coal for household use - Price by city, 1913-1919
Shows retail prices by city for January and July of each year from 1913-1919. See Table E, pages 442-447. The source does not tell how much coal households typically used.

PRICES for SERVICES

Price of a haircut before, during and after WWI
This book on economics explains that haircuts were 25 cents for many years up until World War I. (Not a government source)
Cost of hospitalization, 1913 and 1926
Tells average length of stay and average cost per day based on whether the patient was in a ward or a private room.
Cost to mail a letter, 1863-present
Chart shows postal rates for mailing a domestic letter. Source: the Historian of the U.S. Postal Service.
Cost to send an international message by cable - 1916
Cost to send a message from New York City to any of about 75 foreign countries, as reported in the American Whitaker Almanac and Encyclopedia.
Price of a newspaper subscription, 1869-1920
Look up by year, then state, then city, then title to find the cost of a newspaper subscription. Source: Rowell's & Ayer's American newspaper directories.
Cost of keeping farm horses and cost of horse labor, 1917
USDA Bulletin no. 560 shows the costs of keeping horses on a farm in 1917. Tables the cost of feed and of labor for horse care in New York, Illinois, and Ohio.

TRAVEL and TRANSPORTATION PRICES

Gasoline prices paid by farmers, 1910-1943
Under the heading "Supplies" in the table on page 21, this source shows the average gasoline price per gallon for 1910-1914 (five year average), 1919, 1929, 1939, and 1943.
Gasoline retail prices by city, reported weekly in 1918
Tables show Standard Oil's price quotes for gasoline at filling stations in about 30 cities across the U.S. This link leads to April prices. Search in the full text for "Filling Station Gasoline Prices" for similar tables for other weeks in the year. Source: National Petroleum News
Gasoline tank wagon prices - 1915
Shows refinery prices and tank wagon prices for gasoline by region in 1915. Not necessarily the price paid by the consumer for small quantities. Also shows prices for fuel oil and kerosene. Source: Federal Trade Commission report.
Gasoline tank wagon price in Chicago, 1915-1922
Tank wagon prices are prices paid by distributors rather than end consumers. Although these are not retail prices, it does show time series price data for one place (Chicago) over seven years.
Car prices as shown in "Pictorial History of the Automobile"
Narrative is arranged by make and model of car. Provides good representation for the cost of a new car from 1900 through the 1920s. Less for the 1930s and after. Source: A Pictorial History of the Automobile as seen in Motor Magazine, commercially published 1953. This is not a government document.
Passenger train fare in the U.S., 1871-1933
Average railroad passenger fare (ticket price) expressed in cents per mile.
Railway passenger fare, 1894-1918
Railway ticket prices were calculated on a formula of cents per mile, and in the 1910s averaged around 2-3 cents per mile. See full railroad passenger fare overview from 1890s-early 1930s in the section titled "Carrier Price," in the U.S. document "Passenger Traffic Report" on pages 38-39.
Steamship fares to and from New York, 1909
Shows lowest rates advertised between New York City, England and Europe. Breakouts for 1st, 2nd and 3rd class travel. More detail on amenities of 2nd class and steerage travel are also available in this source, The Scientific American Handbook of Travel, published 1910.
Steamship fares to Latin America, South America and Caribbean
Taken from section titled "Steamship fares and itineraries" in the 1920 U.S. Dept of Commerce publication "Commercial Travelers' Guide to Latin America." Fares show city of departure in the U.S. and port of arrival. Departure cities include New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Key West.
Hotel rates - U.S. and Canada - up to 1912
In each issue of Hotel Monthly up to 1912, there was a hotel directory for the U.S. and Canada; find it in the table of contents on the front cover of each issue and then type the page number in the "Jump to page..." box. The directories list hotels by state and then by city, and tell the daily rates for each.
Hotel Directory - U.S. and Canada - 1915
The John Willy Hotel Directory listed hotels and rates for the United States. Listing by state and then by city.
Hotel rates - U.S. towns - 1919
The Hotel Red Book lists hotel rates for large and even very small towns throughout the United States. Over 800 pages, the most comprehensive source we've seen. Tip: try entering the town name in the "Search in this text" box.

COST OF COLLEGE or VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

University tuition and fees, 1912-1913
Includes state universities and those which received some state funding, such as Cornell. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Purdue. Tuition and fees for each university are listed on pages 22-26.
University and junior college costs for residents and non-residents - 1918
Lists tuition prices for both residents and non residents as well as room and board costs and fees for institutions across the United States. The list runs from pp. 157-258.

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Source: Facilities for Foreign Students in American Colleges and Universities (published 1920)
Tuition and living expenses at college - 1915
Discusses college living expenses for foreign students attending college in the U.S. in 1915. Some of the expenses would be the same for foreign and in-state residents, such as room, board and transportation. Beginning on page 127, the source tells the tuition for various courses of study at each university, and usually will indicate the different costs between rates for in-state residents or out of state. Note that the tuition was higher to attend medical school, law school, and other professional majors.

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Source: "Opportunities for Foreign Students at Colleges and Universities in the United States," Bulletin of the U.S. Bureau of Education,1915, No.27, by Samuel Paul Capen.
College tuition, room/board, and books/fees by institution, 1912
Alphabetical list of colleges includes tuition, room & board, etc. This book also includes some chapters discussing typical jobs that college students might get and how much those jobs paid. See table of contents. This is not a government publication.
Non-tuition expenses to attend college in California, ca. 1917
The state of California covered tuition to take teacher training, but other expenses ran around $500 per year according to this report from the CA Superintendent of Public Instruction report for 1917-1918.
Cost to attend private commercial or business schools, 1917-1918
Tuition fees to learn secretary skills, bookkeeping, accountancy, stenography, wire telegraphy and salesmanship.
Nursing School tuition, 1916-1918
Less than 3% of all nurse training schools charged tuition. Instead, the students took courses and worked in hospitals, most being paid a low (student) wage for performing the work. Tuition and student remuneration are listed by state, city and individual teaching hospital beginning on page 53.
Nursing School tuition, 1918-1920
Less than 3% of all nurse training schools charged tuition. Instead, the students took courses and worked in hospitals, most being paid a low (student) wage for performing the work. This report contains summaries by states, but no detailed statistics of individual schools. The table showing average wages paid to first year, second year and third year students by state begins on page 17.
Tuition for Law, Medical and Dental schools, 1916-1918
Figure 17 in the U.S. Biennial Survey of Education shows the number of professional schools charging tuition in certain ranges, for example, most medical schools charged between $100-109 for tuition in the late 1910s.

Cost of Living / Expenditures Analysis - 1910s

Changes in cost of living in large cities of the United States, 1913-1941
This document looks only at whether the cost of living was going up or down for families, in relative terms. It compares the affordability of food and consumer goods from one year to the next and provides price indexes but not actual prices. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 699
Amount paid for housing, food, fuel, power, and misc items - late 1910s to early 1920s
Link goes to a Table of Contents page for BLS publication "Cost of Living in the United States." Navigate to a chapter by noting the page number in the table of contents, and enter that page number in the page navigation box.
Workingmen's standard of living in Philadelphia - 1918
Reports the income, expenditures, and standard of living for 395 families. Study conducted by the city of Philadelphia.
Coal for household use - Price by city, 1913-1919
Shows retail prices by city for January and July of each year from 1913-1919. See Table E, pages 442-447. The source does not tell how much coal households typically used.
Cost to run a small farm in North Dakota, 1910
Shows the what it might cost to acquire a small (320 acre) wheat farm and run it for a year, listing the cost of each essential agricultural implement, seed, eight horses, a buggy and two wagons, as well as typical amounts expended on farm help (wages and board), equipment repairs and maintenance, taxes, etc.

Prices in Foreign Countries, 1910-1919

Multiple countries
Canada
Great Britain
India
Ireland

Sources showing prices in MULTIPLE COUNTRIES, 1910s

Click the tabs above for single countries.

Retail food prices around the world, 1900 and 1910
All prices listed in dollars. Tables on pages 43-52 list the retail prices of flour, butter, bacon, beef, mutton, ham, sugar and coffee in selected cities in the U.S., Austria, Canada, Nova Scotia, England, Germany, France, Russia, Bulgaria, Japan, Mexico
Wages and Prices Abroad, 1900 and 1910
Reports from consular offices show wholesale and retail prices for a variety of foods, clothing, agricultural products such as wool and hides and more in Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Japan, Belgium, Spain and more. Also discusses the the cost to rent in various countries.
Foreign food prices as affected by the war
Provides retail food prices in many countries in 1914 and in the years leading up to the war outbreak. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin no. 170, published May 1915.
Percent increase in food prices in foreign countries, 1914-1921
Shows prices indexes, not actual retail prices. Here you can find the percent of increase in average food prices from 1914-1921. Includes data for the countries of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Netherlands, Noway, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Source: International Labour Review, Feb 1921.

Prices in CANADA, 1910s

Canada - Prices of staple foods, fuel and rent in 1913, 1920-1927
Expressed in dollars. Source: Statistics Canada.

Prices in GREAT BRITAIN, 1910s

United Kingdom - Retail prices, wages and cost of living in 1912
Data covers industrial towns in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Source: Cost of living of the working classes. Report of an enquiry by the Board of Trade into working-class rents and retail prices together with the rates of wages in certain occupations in industrial towns of the United Kingdom in 1912.
Great Britain - Retail prices in 1914 and 1919
Shows average price of bread, meats, fish, eggs, milk, flour, cheese, potatoes, butter, tea, etc. Source: Ministry of Labour Gazette, published in London by the Labour Dept of the British Board of Trade. Similar reports are available in issues from other years.
Great Britain - Price of Bread, 1914-1916
Simple table shows the price of a 4 lb. loaf of bread in the various districts of England, Scotland and Wales for each year from 1914-1916.
England - Prices and earnings, 1914
Oxford pamphlet compares the cost of rent, household fuels and various sorts of foods both before WWI and in 1914 for three categories of English families: London poor, labourers in provincial towns and artisans in provincial towns. Written by a professor of statistics, this is not a government document.

Prices in INDIA, 1910s

India - Retail prices for food grains and salt, 1892-1916
Use Table of Contents to find start page. For example the salt prices begin on page 140. Source: Prices and Wages in India, published by the India government, Department of Statistics, 1918.

Prices in IRELAND, 1910s

Ireland - Retail prices, 1914 and 1922
Shows prices in shillings and pence for various food items; articles of clothing for men, women, boys and girls; fuel for heating and cooking; soap, tobacco and cigarettes. Source: Report on the Cost of Living in Ireland, pages 7-9. Elsewhere in the same volume, find average rents and typical family budgets.

Timeline -- Major Economic Events of the 1910s

Taken from a 75-year graphical timeline of financial events in America, the links below each lead to a single year on the chart. To see the full chart in context, go to the St. Louis Federal Reserve website.

Prices and Wages by Decade: 1910-1919