Prices and Wages by Decade: 1920-1929

Very simple table shows average hours and earnings for all production workers in manufacturing for each year from 1919-1960.

Jump directly to years: 1920-1921, 1922-1923, 1924-1925, 1926-1927, 1928, and 1929-1930. Detailed occupations are listed alphabetically under industries, such as bakery trades, building trades, chauffeurs/teamsters/drivers, laundry workers, linemen, publishing, street railways, etc. Many unexpected occupations were unionized, for example musicians, hatters, actors, barbers, turkish bath attendants, artists and enbalmers. The wage tables continue for more than a hundred pages, listing many occupations within these industries. Be sure to scroll forward or try the "Find" tool, which looks like a magnifying glass just above the page frame.

Shows starting wages in cents for male laborers in each of 13 industries, as well as an overall average across industries.

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.

Foreign wage rates are arranged for easy comparison to U.S. wage rates for the same occupations. Provides foreign wage data in native currency alongside the U.S. dollar equivalent.

This source compares salaries for university professors to that of similarly-trained individuals working in private industry or for the government. It shows pay and earnings of engineers, Army and Navy officers, federal employees working in scientific bureaus, life insurance industry executives, public utility administrators, judges and more. This is a non-government source that cites government data.

Focuses specifically on management/labor and pay issues in the shoe, paper, cotton textile industries, with some tables showing wages expressed in dollars. This work is part of a congressional hearing titled "Investigation of Concentration of Economic Power," published in 1940.

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.

Shows wages for common and semi-skilled workers in manufacturing and construction industries, in baking, agriculture, metal and printing trades. From the Louisiana Department of Labor and Industrial Statistics Biennial Report for 1929-1930.

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.

A table from page 120 in the 1929 edition of Crops and Markets tells the average monthly and daily wages of hired farm labors. It is broken out by state and whether or not workers received board as part of the compensation package.

Farm wage rates are 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 labor wage data is usually available in state government resources. For example, see farm labor wages in North Carolina counties in the early 1920s. If you need a different state, contact us at concannonm@missouri.edu.

Chart shows the wage for picking 100 pounds of cotton in 19 different states as well as the U.S. average.

Average hours and earnings by occupation and district. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 523

The tables show pay for employees engaged in the manufacture of automobiles, trucks, car bodies and parts. Tables are broken down by type of job, gender of employee, and geography.

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 358

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.

Average earnings by occupation and districts. Pay for overtime and work on Sundays. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 525

About half of the surveyed penal institutions gave prisoners some compensation, based on its use as incentive toward good work and better behavior, and to provide the convict with a small way to provide for his family.

Tables are broken down by occupation, sex, and state. It also summarizes the years from 1907-1922.

The survey covered 114 different cotton mills in 12 different state, and generally divides tables by occupation, sex, and year or occupation, sex, and state.

Nine-page article includes breakouts by state, by size of community, by source of income, and more.

Median wages for butlers, chauffeurs, gardeners, furnace men and "house men" employed to work in private households in Philadelphia in the late 1920s.

Covers elementary schools and junior high schools in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. Data is broken out by states and cities. Gives the salary range (minimum-maximum). There are no breakouts by race, sex or educational attainment of the teachers.

Source: Teachers' salaries and salary trend in 1923, a report of the National Education Association of the United States.

Covers elementary, junior high, and high school teachers in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. Data is organized based on city population. Includes salaries of men and of women high school teachers for select cities. Gives the salary range (minimum-maximum).

Tables compare salaries of male and female teachers, principals and administrators in New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City,

Shows average annual salaries nationwide, broken out by school level: kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school, vocational school, college, and normal school (teacher training academies).

Lengthy article reports how much educators earned in Illinois' high schools in 1920-1921.

Table 41 in this source shows the average salary for all teachers in elementary and secondary schools in New York state, not including NYC. Some New York City teacher and principal salaries are shown on the following page in Table 42.

Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin No. 682

Shows firemen salaries for 25 American cities including New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City and more. Source: U.S. Congressional Serial Set Vol. No. 8836.

Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin No. 571

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.

This source tells the annual pay for individuals occupying administrative and supervisory positions in the executive and judicial branches. Note, these are not averages, but show the actual pay for each named individual.

Historical chart shows salaries of members of the U.S. Congress, along with dates of enactment and statutory authority for each pay increase.

Industrial home work was the practice of allowing workers to do work at home. It was most common in clothing manufacture but was also prevalent in the making of tobacco products and the manufacture of other small items. Usually women and sometimes children did the work.

Source shows annual compensation for judges including those on the U.S. Supreme Court, circuit courts and district courts. Also tells pay for court clerks and marshals. Note - this source tells what each individual was paid, not overall averages.

Shows lawyers' incomes by regions and states, by size of community served, by the age of the lawyer and number of years in practice, by WWII veteran status, and more. Source: "Income of Lawyers, 1929-1948" in the August 1949 issue of Survey of Current Business.

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.

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 394

Bulletin of the United States BLS, no. 573.

Source shows pay tables, based on years of service, for Army and Navy officers including generals, admirals, colonels, lieutenants, captains, ensigns, etc.

The 200 bituminous mines covered are in 11 States including Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Wages on Pgs. 34-40.

This 1930 report by the Committee on the Grading of Nursing Schools presents the findings of a nation-wide study of nursing economics, including data on the number of nursing school graduates from 1880 to 1929 as well as salary information.

These figures are shown by occupation, sex, and region. .

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 407

Average earnings per hour and average full-time hours, with average hours actually worked and average earnings actually received in a sample pay-roll period.

Police force salaries for Washington DC, Los Angeles, Providence RI and six additional cities begin on page 5. Includes inspectors in command of detective bureaus, superintendents, captains, privates, etc. Fire department salaries, by job title, for New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, San Francisco, Newark and Jersey City begins on page 44.

Gives salaries for seven different job titles in police departments in 25 major American cities, including Philadelphia, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis and more in 1927. Source: U.S. Congressional Serial Set vol. 8836.

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 412

Compares wages for 1922 to 1940 rates for a variety of railroad jobs. Taken from: Wages and labor relations in the railroad industry, 1900-1941, ... Bureau of Information of the Eastern Railways (not a government document)

Shows wage rates for a variety of occupations in the railroad industry, including engineers, conductors, passenger baggage men, coal passers, firemen, switch tenders, hostlers, signalmen, station agents, telegraphers, machinists, car cleaners, and more.

From Report of Joint Fact Finding Committee in Wage Negotiations, 1927, in Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 514

Shows monthly wages based on the ocean routes traveled: San Francisco to points west, and New York City to points south and east.

Tables are divided by department, occupation, and district, as well as by sex.

Report shows hours and earnings of workers in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry. Tables are divided by division, occupation, and district, as well as by sex. Table 52 provides information on overtime, Sunday and holiday pay.

Unskilled labor hired by cities for construction, repair or cleaning of streets. Taken from Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 484

Shows average hours and earnings. See earnings by state starting on page 16.

Dates for most tables range from 1920-1925. States that are included: Rhode Island, New Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, Oklahoma, Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. Published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau. Bulletin #85.

Report published in 1924.

Report published in 1923 gives wages for Arkansas women by occupation and race. Some occupations covered include telephone operators, waitresses, hotel maids, chambermaids, elevator girls, laundry workers, retail clerks, and factory workers in the wood working industry.

Report published in 1921 tells wages for women working in offices, in meat and poultry packing, restaurants, food manufacturing, clothing manufacturing, laundries, and more.

Report published in 1923 tells wages by race and by industry. Mostly covers manufacturing industries (tobacco was prominent), but there is some data for women who worked in mercantile stores, 5-and10-cent stores, and in laundries.

Report published in 1924.

Report published in 1925 mainly covers wages in manufacturing industries.

Report published in 1924.

Report published in 1923.

Report published in 1927 includes extensive wage data for women in Tennessee by race, industry, education, and more, circa 1925.

This Women's Bureau report, The Development of Minimum Wage Laws in the United States, shows 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.

• Arkansas in 1922 and 1924
• California, 1914-1925
  
• District of Columbia, 1919-1922
• Kansas, 1916-1922
• Massachusetts, 1913-1925
• Massachusetts, 1910-1922
• Minnesota, 1920-1923
• Washington state, 1913-1914, 1920
• Wisconsin, 1921-1923

Shows median weekly earnings for the states of GA, KY, SC, AL, AR, MO, NJ, OH, MS, TN. The chapter on earnings extends from pages 39-48 and includes much analysis and discussion.

Chart shows median wages of women employed in Philadelphia households as chambermaids, cleaners, cooks, waitresses, laundress, seamstress, and children's nurses (nannies.) Includes breakouts for those who lived with the family and those who did not.

Wages of certain women in the District of Columbia. The study pays particular attention to women who made less than the average wage.

Women's Bureau Bulletin #25.

During the 1910s and 1920s, minimum wage laws were effected by a handful of states and generally applied only to women and children.

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 285

Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 408

Shows prices by month along with yearly averages. Note that tables are intended to span across two pages in a book, so row labels will only show on even-numbered pages. Click "more..." for direct links to prices for different types of foods.

Shows the retail prices for specific foods averaged across 51 U.S. cities. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin no. 635.

Tells the retail prices of food, such as sirloin, eggs, oranges, and butter in cents as well as percent changes in cost for 1923-24.

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.

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.

New York Public Library site has over 400 scanned restaurant menus from the 1920-1929 decade. This is not a government resource but it can be useful for spot-checking prices for specific food or beverages at restaurants.

Table 679 of this 1923 USDA Yearbook 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 in 1909, 1914-1922. Prices for 1923 and 1924 begin on page 1152.

Shows prices for articles of clothing sold in 35 retailer shops in twelve cities. Source: Dry Goods Economist, a trade publication.

This nearly 1,000-page mail order catalog lists clothing, home furnishings and appliances, musical instruments, hardware, tools and much more, along with prices. (Such a catalog represents only one retailer's prices, not average prices from all retailers). Use the "Search in this text" box to find particular items, or refer to the catalog's own index. Shipping rates are included as well.

Over 1,000 pages show prices for clothing, toys, jewelry, tools, farm implements and more. See index to quickly find page numbers for items featured.

B. Altman & Co. mail order catalog shows images and prices for women's garments for Summer 1920.

Fascinating book that shows various imported items (such as kid gloves, bloomers, silk nightgown, men's pipe, electric flatiron, glass lamp, etc.) along with the country of origin, value in that country, transportation charges, duty charges and retail price in the U.S. Includes a photo of most items. For easier browsing, the information is shown in table format in the Oct 1922 issue of the BLS Monthly Labor Review

Montgomery Ward catalog shows prices of radios and radio supplies on 60+ pages.

Shows average value of mortgaged homes, average debt remaining on the mortgages and average interest paid on mortgages annually, for 68 cities of 100,000 or more population.

Page 243 reads: "The sum of $4,000 will buy only a very modest home and even then it will have to be in one of the smaller cities...or in a remote suburb of a large city." Click for more info about the kind of home a family earning less than $2,500 annually could buy in 1928.

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.

Bungalowcraft catalog shows home drawings and floor plans. Costs to build these bungalows are given on the last page of the booklet.

Retail prices for brick, cement, lumber of various kinds, window glass, shingles, nails and more. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Building Estimator's Reference Book gives detailed costs for the labor and materials for the construction of houses and office buildings.

Tables 6-13 show farm land prices by county in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Texas.

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.

Indicates prices per kilowatt-hour by areas and cities. Discusses household expenditures for electricity, and estimates the number of homes that had various electrical appliances (radios, refrigerators, irons, etc.) over the years. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin, no. 664

Hospital stays were $6 or $7 per day circa 1930. Physician fees for maternity patients are reported for a rural county in Indiana and also for Berkeley, California (scroll to pages 423-426 in the publication.) Source: Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1931 edition.

Tells average length of stay and average cost per day based on whether the patient was in a ward or a private room.

Much detail is provided in the book Hospital service for patients of moderate means; a study of certain American hospitals spans pages 28-41. Published in Washington, D.C. by the Committee on the cost of medical care in 1930. This is not a government document.

Source: Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1931 edition : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 541

Lists single-unit prices for barbital, benzoyl peroxide, benzocaine, aspirin, quinoline, and more, showing proprietary and coined drug names. Priced by the single unit. Source: American Druggist, January 1923 issue.

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, published 1953 (not a government publication or a primary source).

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.

Article indicates that the retail price for gasoline in Pensacola was 25 cents per gallon. Source: National Petroleum News , June 5, 1929, p. 11. col. 2.

Article discusses a gasoline price war in the twin cities in the late 1920s. Retail prices might normally have been 20-23 cents per gallon, but had slipped down to 14 cents at times. Source: National Petroleum News June 12, 1929.

Tables indicate prices to filling stations ("tank wagon price" or refinery price.) Note there was a 3 or 4 cent markup at the filling station to the customer. Source: Congressional hearing: High cost of gasoline and other petroleum products, 1923.

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

Quote from this 1932 report: "Since July 1920, railroad passenger fares have generally been on the basis of 3.6 cents per mile throughout the country," with extra charges for parlor or sleeping car accommodations. See exact fares for selected bus and railroad routes in the narrative spanning pages 28-32 of this publication. Source: 1932 Report to the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission.

Railroad passenger fares were generally calculated on a cents-per-mile basis. Ticket prices started dropping in 1926 in response to competition from the motor transportation industry. See full railroad passenger fare overview in the section titled "Carrier Price," in the U.S. document "Passenger Traffic Report" on pages 38-39.

This booklet shows prices for hotels and amenities such as a shave and haircut, bath house rates, telephone rates, restaurant meals, etc. Also shows rowboat and pack horse rental rates, cost for guided tours, price of postcards, and transportation fares.

The "Commercial Travelers' Guide to the Far East" published in 1926 by the U.S. Department of Commerce includes fares from Seattle to various points.

The "Commercial Travelers' Guide to Latin America" (1922, U.S. Dept of Commerce) lists one-way, first class steamship fares from New York to Caribbean islands, Mexico, and Central and South American countries. Also shows some fares originating from New Orleans and San Francisco. Fares are listed on pages 30-43; taxes on page 44. The guide strongly advises the traveler to always seek first class accommodation on these journeys to points south.

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

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

A study to determine how much a family of five would need to live comfortably in 1920. Includes the numbers on the approximate annual wage the family would need to live this lifestyle.

Lists prices of typical food items, housing expenses, clothing, fuel, light and sundries, including typical expenditure on recreation. Puts all of this into context with the cost of living for single men and for families with children. Published by the National Industrial Conference Board, a group of industry associations.

Although services are not priced out, the chart does tell the average amounts families were spending on medical care per year, broken out by family income.

Cost of living and family expenditures in Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. Includes a table showing farmers' disposable net income.

Lists costs of running a farm, including costs of power, labor, insurance, interest on loans, etc. Taken from the 1921 U.S. Department of Agriculture Yearbook, starting on page 804.

This Farmers' Bulletin, Cost of Using Horses on Corn-Belt Farms, goes into great detail about the costs of keeping work horses, including a cost per day breakdown (see table on page 13).

Table shows average tax by acre for each state in 1929. Tax covers both land and buildings. Expressed in dollars and also as a percentage of the property value. Source: 1934 Statistical Abstract of the United States.

This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. For example, a dollar earned in 2016 had the same buying power as 4 cents in 1913. Conversely, a dollar earned in 1913 had the same buying power as $24.24 in the year 2016.