Library Guides: Prices and Wages by Decade: 1920-1929

Wages in the United States, 1920-1929

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

Union wages by occupation and city, 1920-1921
Click "more..." for direct links to each occupation.

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Bakery trades - Wages
- Bakers
Building trades - Wages
Chauffeurs, teamsters and drivers - Wages
Granite and stone trades - Wages
- Granite cutters
- Stone cutters
Laundry workers - Wages
- Laundry workers
Linemen - Wages
- Linemen
Metal trades - Wages
Millwork - Wages
Printing and publishing, book and job - Wages
Printing and publishing, newspaper - Wages
Street railways - Wages
- Motormen and conductors
Union wages by occupation and city, 1922-1928
Jump directly to years: 1922-1923, 1924-1925, 1926-1927 and 1928. Occupations are organized under industries, such as bakery trades, building trades, etc. The wage tables continue for more than a hundred pages in each of these volumes.
Union wages by occupation and city, 1929-1930
Click "more..." for direct links to wages in each occupation.

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Miscellaneous trades - Wages
Building trades - Wages
Garment, hat and shoe manufacturing industries - Wages
Printing and publishing: newspaper job wages
Printing and publishing - Wages
Transportation industry - Wages
Metal trades in railroad shops - Wages
Common labor - Average starting wage by industry, 1926-1934
Shows starting wages in cents for male laborers in each of 13 industries, as well as an overall average across industries.
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.
Comparative wage rates in the United States and foreign countries, 1927
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.
Wages for selected professional occupations in 1928
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.
Industrial wage rates and policy, 1929-1938
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.
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.
Wages by Occupation in Louisiana, 1929
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.
Teenagers' wages by occupation and sex in Detroit, 1922
See about 10 pages of boy's occupations and a separate section for girl's occupations. Gives high and low wage quotes and tells the amount of time needed to learn each job, as well as additional remarks about the work itself.

WAGES BY INDUSTRY / OCCUPATION

Agriculture - Farm laborers, 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.
Agriculture - Farm wages by state, 1927-1929

Percent of population living on farms by state in 1920.
Source
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.
Agriculture - Farm workers' wages and income, 1909-1938
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.
Agriculture - Farm labor wages by state and county
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.
Agriculture - Male farm labor average wages by state, 1929
Agriculture - Farm labor wages in Missouri, 1866-1930
Shows average farm labor wage in Missouri with and without board, during harvest time or at other times. Source: Missouri State Dept of Agriculture.
Agriculture - Farm labor wages in Vermont, 1780s-1937
Table 26 shows wages for laborers with board for every year from 1780-1937; the explanation begins on page 43. Source: Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station.
Agriculture - Cotton picking wages by state, 1929-1935
Chart shows the wage for picking 100 pounds of cotton in 19 different states as well as the U.S. average.
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.
Carpenter wages, 1920s
- Union carpenter wages in selected cities for 1924-1925
- Average hourly carpenter wage for the whole U.S. for 1926. This table compares the U.S. average to that earned by carpenters in other countries.
- In the book History of Wages in the United States from Colonial Times to 1928, Table B-4 shows carpenter wages for 1920-1928 for twelve major U.S. cities. The table spans pages 165-167.
Cement industry job wages and hours, 1929
Average earnings by occupation and districts. Pay for overtime and work on Sundays. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 525
Chain store wages, 1929
Table shows average 1929 and 1931 weekly wages of full-time store employees, managers, and supervisors by kind and size of chain and location. Source: Chain Stores (Serial Set 9783).
Coal mining jobs - Hours and earnings, 1919-1933
Coal mining wages by state, 1923
This is a two-page table spanning pages 294-295. See appendixes in this book for additional data. Source: Miners' wages and the cost of coal: an inquiry into the wages system.... by Isador Lubin.
Convict labor in 1923 - Compensation
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.
Dentists' income, 1929-1948
Nine-page article includes breakouts by state, by size of community, by source of income, and more.
Domestic (household) service - Male workers' wages
Median wages for butlers, chauffeurs, gardeners, furnace men and "house men" employed to work in private households in Philadelphia in the late 1920s.
Education - School teachers and principals' salaries, 1921-1922
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.
Education - Teachers' salaries in 1922-1923
Source: Teachers' salaries and salary trend in 1923, a report of the National Education Association of the United States.
Education - Teachers' salaries by school level, 1923
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).
Education - Teachers' salaries by sex in large cities, 1926
Tables compare salaries of male and female teachers, principals and administrators in New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City,
Education - Teacher's salaries by school level, 1924-1928
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).
Education - Teachers of high schools in Illinois, 1920-1921
Lengthy article reports how much educators earned in Illinois' high schools in 1920-1921.
Education - Teachers' salaries in New York state, 1920-1932
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.
Education - Teacher salaries in North Carolina by race, 1922
Salary scale for white teachers begins here. Section titled Salary Scale for Colored Teachers is on the last page.
Engineers' earnings, 1929-1934
Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin #682. Note that few women had entered the engineering field in these early years. The Census Bureau counted only 41 female engineers in 1920.
Firemen and fire department salaries by city, 1927
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.
Foundries and machine shop jobs - Wages and hours, 1923-1931
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 (federal) - Pay in leadership positions, 1926
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.
Government (state level) employee pay, 1925-1928
Shows average public employee pay for each state. Source: National Municipal Review, January 1932 issue.
Government employee pay - Pennsylvania, 1928
Shows salaries at the state, county and city levels. Source: Report of the Salary survey commission to the Pennsylvania General assembly, 1929.
Government employee pay - 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.
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.
Iron and steel industry wages and hours, 1907-1931
Judge's pay in federal courts - 1926
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.
Lawyers' income, 1929-1948
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.
Lumber industry job wages and hours, 1921-1932
Manufacturing
See box below for manufacturing wages by industry.

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Includes links to general sources and sources specific to the following industries: automobile, airplane, clothing, textiles, furniture, paper and pulp, and pottery.
Metalliferous mining job wages and hours, 1924
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 394
Mining metals - Wages and hours, 1924 and 1931
Bulletin of the United States BLS, no. 573.
Military pay charts (US), 1908-present
This is not a government website but it does a good job of organizing a complex topic. For original government documents showing pay, contact us.
Military pay for officers on active duty - 1926
Source shows pay tables, based on years of service, for Army and Navy officers including generals, admirals, colonels, lieutenants, captains, ensigns, etc.
Mining - anthracite and bituminous coal, 1922 and 1924
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.
Nursing - Average salaries for public health and institutional nurses, 1927
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.
Optometrists - Income, 1929
Source: Optometry: professional, economic and legal aspects, published 1948.
Petroleum industry, 1920
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 and fire department officers and personnel - Salaries, 1924
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.
Police departments - Salaries, 1927
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.
Railroad worker earnings, 1922
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)
Railroad employee wages, 1917 and 1921
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.
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.
Railroad employees average total wages, July 1921 to Dec 1923
Wages paid by Class I steam railroads are reported on daily and hourly pay basis. Employee groups include executives, professional, maintenance, and transportation. Source: National Wealth and Income.
Railroad wage data (Pennsylvania) - 1927
From Report of Joint Fact Finding Committee in Wage Negotiations, 1927, in Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 514
Seamen and firemen on ocean ships - Wages, 1914-1918
Shows monthly wages based on the ocean routes traveled: San Francisco to points west, and New York City to points south and east.
Slaughtering and meat-packing industry, 1921-1927
Tables are divided by department, occupation, and district, as well as by sex.
Slaughtering and meat-packing industry, 1929
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.
Street laborers (unskilled) - Wages and hours, 1928
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
Teachers -- see above, under "Education"
Telegraph and cable industry - wages and salaries, 1922
Table shows average salary or wage of telegraph and cable industry employees in 1922 by class (officers, managers, clerks, operators, other). Source: National Wealth and Income.
Telephone industry - average compensation per employee, 1922
Table shows the average compensation per employee in the telephone industry by occupational group (officers, managers, clerks, operators, other) for 1912, 1917, and 1922. Source: National Wealth and Income.
Theatrical occupations in NYC, 1928-1929
Shows pay for those involved in "1st class New York City productions" including actors of various levels (from chorus to leads) as well as directors, designers, scene painters, stage hands, etc. Source: The Business of the Theater, pp. 199-203.
Veterinarian's pay - 1920s
- Veterinarians for stock farms earned $1500-$5000 per year, according to the article "The Veterinary Profession" published in the March 1921 Ohio State University Bulletin. The article also lists annual pay for veterinarians with federal jobs, state jobs such as extension or experiment station work, lab experts, jobs in the commercial industry such as veterinary sales, and working as city food inspectors. Earnings listed on pages 7-11.
- In the article "Business Methods in Country Practice" published in the Oct 1922 Cornell Veterinarian, typical fees for veterinary visits are described on page 300.
- See 1926 annual salaries for individual veterinarians employed by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Industry and stationed anywhere in the United States. It will be necessary to scroll forward in this source and browse the job titles. This source does not show averaged figures.

Manufacturing Wages, 1920-1929

WAGES in MANUFACTURING, 1920s -- General sources

See tabs above for specific industries

Manufacturing job hours and earnings, 1919-1960
Very simple table shows average hours and earnings for all production workers in manufacturing for each year from 1919-1960.
Factory employee average annual wages - 1921, 1923
Table shows average annual wage per factory employee, by major manufacturing groups, in 1914, 1919, 1921, and 1923. See table 164 on page 264 for average annual wage per factory employee by principal regions.

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Manufacturing groups include transportation, iron and steel, railroad repair, paper and printing, machinery, rubber products, metals, chemicals, stone, musical instruments, food, leather, lumber, textiles, tobacco, and miscellaneous.
Industrial home work - Earnings
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.
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.

WAGES in AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURING, 1920s