Prices and Wages by Decade: 2020-present
Wages in the United States, 2020s
- Minimum wage
- Federal rate
- State rates
- For tipped employees (federal and state rates)
- Wages by occupation - National averagesWith easy, drill-down menus. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Wages by area and occupation, most currentWages by state, metro, and selected non-metro areas. Source: BLS.
- Earnings by occupation (with additional info about the job)Tells educational requirements, job descriptions and more. Source: Occupational outlook handbook, U.S. Dept of Labor.
- Farm labor wages, most currentThe USDA publication Farm Labor has been listing agricultural wages for decades.
Prices in the United States, 2020s
- Food average retail prices, 1980-presentPrices for meats, fruits, vegetables, bread, eggs, milk and more. Source: U.S. BLS.
CAR PRICES
- New car average price, 1970-2020This data is also downloadable as an Excel file. Source: Transportation energy data book edition 40 (2022), Table 11.13. See more downloadable data from this source.
- MSRP for new cars by make, model and body type, 2020-Shows manufacturer suggested retail prices (MSRP). Choose a make, year of manufacture, and body type. Select a car then enter any zip code. Click "Get Base Values" to see the original MSRP.
GASOLINE and DIESEL FUEL PRICES
- Gasoline retail prices, 1978-2021This is Table 11.6 from: Transportation energy data book edition 40 (2022). The data is also downloadable in Excel format.
- Gasoline prices by U.S. region and month, 1976-presentGasoline is near the bottom of the list. Click the green "Historical Data" icon in the rows, then use drop-down boxes near the top of the page to select an earlier year. Source: U.S. BLS.
- Residential energy prices, 1978-presentIncludes electricity, natural gas and fuel oil prices (see them near the bottom of the table). Click the green "Historical Data" icon in the rows, then use drop-down boxes near the top of the page to choose any year. Source: U.S. BLS.
- Cost to mail a letter or postcard, 1863-presentSource: the Historian of the U.S. Postal Service.
Tip: The Consumer Reports magazine lists retail prices for many items. Check with your local library for back issues, or ask about digital access.
Inflation and buying power, 2020s
- Calculator: Present-day worth of a past amount of moneyThe MeasuringWorth.com website provides online calculators, guides and tutorials to help researchers understand the current-day value of historic money in the United States, Australia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
- Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation CalculatorCalculator compares the buying power of money at different points in history. For example, $1 earned in 2022 had the same buying power as 3¢ in 1913. Conversely, $1 earned in 1913 had the same buying power as $28.69 in January 2022.
What is the Consumer Price Index (CPI)?
"The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of consumer goods and services" with respect to a given base year with value 100. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
What is inflation?
As measured with CPI, it is the percent change in the CPI between two different years, showing the "annual percentage change in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services". Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
CPI Inflation Formula: CPIx-1-CPIx ⁄CPIx*100
- CPI & inflation rate, 1800-2021Shows both average annual CPI and the yearly inflation rate in the US. The base year for CPI is 1967. Note that all CPI before 1913 is a rough estimate. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
- Consumer price index, 2020-PresentShows the average CPI for all items and urban consumers. The base year is 1982-1984. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
- Inflation rate, 2020-PresentShows the yearly inflation rate for all consumer prices in the US. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
"The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of consumer goods and services" with respect to a given base year with value 100. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Ask a Question
Marie Concannon, Government Information Librarian
Government Documents Department, Ellis Library
University of Missouri, Columbia
Email: concannonm@missouri.edu
Phone (573) 882-0748
