Here's What 15 Things Cost 100 Years Ago (2024)

If you dreamed of making the white picket fence a reality, a new house would've cost approximately $6,296–about $95,017.97 today.

In 1920, to rent an apartment in New York City cost $60 per month. With inflation, that's $905.51 in 2023 – which is still less than you'd pay to rent a single room nowadays.

It's surprising what certain items at the grocery store would have set you back in 1920. For instance, a dozen eggs cost 47 cents ($7.09 today), one pound of round steak cost 40 cents ($6.04 today), and three pounds of macaroni cost 25 cents ($3.77 today). Several factors including inflation and an avian flu outbreak have caused eggs to skyrocket in price at the grocery store in recent years even more than expected.

As the automobile industry emerged in the 1920s, ladies would oftentimes paint their nails using high-gloss car paint. A manicure back then cost less than 25 cents ($3.77 today). If only manicures cost that much nowadays.

Ladies! Listen up. The most trendy hairstyle of the 1920s was the bob. To get the initial cut, it cost $5.00 ($75.46 today), and to upkeep the style it was $2.00 ($30.18 today) per week.

Walking down the aisle is a ridiculously expensive trip. American's currently spend, on average, $30,000 on the big day. In 1920, the average cost of a wedding was about $400 ($6,036 today).

The latest entertainment medium at the time was quite pricey and was therefore seen as a major investment for most Americans. At the beginning of the 1920s, a new radio cost over $200 (over $3,000 today)! But by the end of the decade, prices dropped to a more affordable $35 ($528.21 today).

A ticket to catch a movie on the big screen cost 15 cents–which is about $2.26 today. That's a far cry from the national average of a movie ticket in 2022, which is $10.95.

If you weren't fortunate enough to have a radio in 1920 (that's okay, not many people were), then listening to vinyl records was your main source of entertainment at home. It cost anywhere between 85 cents ($12.83) to $1.25 ($18.86) to nab yourself a cool vinyl record.

Laundry isn't just going to do itself, you know. But if you wanted a washing machine, it would've cost $81.50. With inflation, that's about $1,229–which doesn't seem too far off by today's standards.

The newest and hottest vacuum on the market, the Hoover Electric Cleaner, set households back about $39—or $588.60 today. How badly do you want clean carpets?

While you can expect to drop about $20-$30 bucks on a meal for two at a diner nowadays, the same meals would've cost about 70 cents ($18.23) in 1920. So not much has changed there.

A fresh set of wheels varies depending on the make and model, but a Chevrolet in the 1920s cost $525–which is just under $8,000 today. Wouldn't it be nice to own a new car for that price in 2023?

"Fill 'er up!" A gallon of gas cost 30 cents in 1920. That would be equivalent to $3.87 per gallon now. Talk about a steep rate! That's quite a bit above our current national average of $2.18. In early 2022, gas prices soared to a staggering $4.11 average, though they’re expected to lower to around 3.57 in 2023.

The average price for a 1/2 gal. of milk cost 33 cents back in the day. Today that'd be about $4.98, which is surprisingly more than our current average of $4.