What was the median income in 1950

Questions or Comments. FRED Help. Follow us. Back to Top. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, MO View All. Plumbers' pay - see Building Trades Police departments - Patrolmens' salaries by city size, Shows average annual salary for patrolmen working in cities of various sizes, from , to 1 million in population.

Retail trade - Employee earnings, Covers wages for employees in general merchandise stores, department stores, and variety stores. Source: BLS Bulletin Retail store jobs selling apparel, accessory and shoes - Employee earnings, U.

Seamen on U. Department of Commerce published this Small Business Series as practical guides for anyone thinking of opening their own retail shop or small service business. Each booklet included chapters on financing, organizing, equipping, and operating the new business.

Read more about Establishing and operating a Manufacturing job hours and earnings, Very simple table shows average hours and earnings for all production workers in manufacturing for each year from Employee earnings in manufacturing industries, Select any year from Shows breakouts by state and major cities. Manufacturing and industry jobs - Hours and earnings This publication "Employment, Hours, and Earnings, United States, " shows average hourly or weekly wages in both "current" and "constant" dollars.

Data is listed by industry and broken out by sex, but not by occupation. Volume I lists wages for goods-producing industries; Volume II for service industries. Link for Volume II. Factory workers' earnings, BLS Bulletin no. Baking Industry - Union Wages and Hours, Wages - Analysis - s U. Wage Stabilization Board Wikipedia article gives background on this U. Louis, St. Food prices by city, Includes both retail prices and price indexes which show the degree of increase or decrease.

Food prices in rural areas, Shows the average retail prices paid in small towns and rural areas for groceries such as boxes of corn flakes, packaged soda crackers, canned salmon, canned corn, boxes of macaroni and many other specific meats, vegetables, dairy products, etc. Food price averages for each year from One-page table shows 80 years of average retail prices for bread, milk, eggs and other common food items.

See page of this source for detail on how the data was collected. Farm-retail spreads for farm products, Lists retail prices for many food staples and food products for each year from It also shows how much of the purchase price went to farmers. The extensive table spans pages in this source.

Restaurant food and drink prices, s Site has nearly scanned restaurant menus from the decade. This is not a government resource but it can be useful for spot-checking prices for specific food or beverages at restaurants. Restaurant meal prices by state, Restaurant directory is arranged by state and cities.

Indicates price ranges for breakfast, lunch or dinner at thousands of establishments. Source: Adventures in good eating. Average retail prices in 20 major cities, The extensive tables list prices for the following items.

Each of these items is defined in Appendix C. Retail prices in New York City, Single page shows average retail prices for food, clothing, bus and subway fare, gasoline, medical care, eyeglasses, personal items, household appliances, telephone service rates, cigarettes, movie admission, whiskey and more. Source: Statistical Office of the United Nations. Average retail prices paid BY FARMERS with state breakouts, Shows retail prices for: Pack of cigarettes and packaged smoking tobacco Mens' and boys' articles of clothing Women's and girl's clothing Cloth by the yard Electricity, telephone, newspaper subscription Laundry soap and starch, bath soap Household items such as radios, sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, rugs, blankets, kitchen curtains, dinnerware Building materials such as lumber, nails, shingles, windows and doors Gasoline per gallon, automobile tires Farm machinery including tractors and combines Tools such as pitchforks and axes, fertilizer Livestock such as baby chicks, hogs, lambs and calves Food for livestock, seeds, and more.

I source. Mail order catalogs for Christmas, s This link leads to WishbookWeb. Find retail prices for clothing, jewelry, toys, household decor and furnishings, gift items and other merchandise selected for inclusion in Christmas catalogs. Median home values by state, Median home values for states and for the U.

Census of Housing , choose unadjusted figures. Median gross rent by state, Gross rent is defined as "the monthly amount of rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of utilities electricity, gas, water and sewer and fuels oil, coal, kerosene, wood, etc. This source shows data by state and for the U. Median rent and median value of homes in the U. Census of Housing provides median rent for the U.

Further down on the same page, see the median value of one-dwelling unit structures. The following page shows breakouts by state. Rent in standard metro areas in the U. See complete list of SMAs included.

For even more detail, see median rent and home values by census tract in major cities. Median market value of owner-occupied properties, Look at the bottom line in the table on page Includes only properties that have a mortgage. Source: Census of Housing. The lot and construction costs would add to the total price. Floor plans and exterior drawings are included.

Also includes mortgage charts for financial planning. House construction costs, Costs of labor and materials are covered in this book, published in Farm and farmland values by state, Shows average farmland value by acre, and the average value of farms both land and buildings , by state.

The USDA definition of a farm is provided on page 2. Farm real estate values in the 48 contiguous states, Figures include both land and buildings. Table shows price per acre for each year. Electricity - Average monthly bill by city and state, See U. Table 1 in the source shows average electric bills for cities having population over 2, While that equates to an impressive percent increase over the past 55 years, things look quite a bit different when adjusting earnings for inflation.

Looking at real hourly earnings in constant dollars, the increase between May and May shrinks to a meager 16 percent. The U. Census Bureau has several indicators measuring wealth and income, each with its own set of strengths and limitations. While hourly earnings are a good measure of productivity and compensation of labor, household or family income may be better suited to gauge the evolution of economic wellbeing in the United States.

The following chart shows real family income in the United States in constant dollars, illustrating nicely that the economic situation of families in the United States has improved by more than the modest increase in real hourly earnings suggests. Both mean and median family incomes in constant dollar terms have more than doubled since the s, thanks to a combination of factors including for example the aforementioned increase in hourly earnings as well as an increase in the labor force participation rate, especially among women.

While family incomes are now higher than ever, there have been prolonged periods of stagnant or declining income levels, especially in the past two decades. Also of note is the growing disparity between mean and median family income, indicating that income inequality is rising.

If, for example, the top 10 percent of families double their income, that would have a positive effect on mean income but leave median income unchanged. The question arises again from a sobering Wall Street Journal report the other day.

Citing U. This means that, by , American households will have lived on a real-dollar income treadmill for almost an entire generation. In itself, this isn't quite as gloomy as it sounds.

Yet another decade of stagnant incomes, however, does add to the mystery surrounding the abrupt demise of the single-income household. For the fact is that real-dollar household incomes stopped rising in the United States decades ago. Indeed, by , 45 years will have passed without a sustained real-dollar increase.

Americans and Canadians, too have forgotten what it's like to live in an economy of actual, annual real-dollar increases in household income. By , real-dollar household incomes in the U.

The percentage of families that owned their own homes: