The Files G33Z3R Receipt
What Things Cost
Gas, a stamp, a movie ticket and an hour of minimum wage — every year, 1960 to 1999.
Every number is from a federal record, not a guess, and every one has today's dollars beside it. Pick your year for the full receipt: what a week at minimum wage paid, what an hour of it bought, and a calculator for the thing you remember paying for.
| Year | Gas / gal | Stamp | Min. wage | Movie ticket | $1 then = today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 31¢ | 4¢ | $1.00 | ~70¢ | $10.87 |
| 1961 | 31¢ | 4¢ | $1.15 | — | $10.77 |
| 1962 | 31¢ | 4¢ | $1.15 | — | $10.62 |
| 1963 | 30¢ | 5¢ | $1.25 | ~85¢ | $10.52 |
| 1964 | 30¢ | 5¢ | $1.25 | — | $10.38 |
| 1965 | 31¢ | 5¢ | $1.25 | — | $10.22 |
| 1966 | 32¢ | 5¢ | $1.25 | — | $9.90 |
| 1967 | 33¢ | 5¢ | $1.40 | — | $9.64 |
| 1968 | 34¢ | 6¢ | $1.60 | — | $9.25 |
| 1969 | 35¢ | 6¢ | $1.60 | — | $8.77 |
| 1970 | 36¢ | 6¢ | $1.60 | ~$1.55 | $8.30 |
| 1971 | 36¢ | 8¢ | $1.60 | — | $7.95 |
| 1972 | 36¢ | 8¢ | $1.60 | ~$1.70 | $7.70 |
| 1973 | 39¢ | 8¢ | $1.60 | ~$1.77 | $7.25 |
| 1974 | 53¢ | 10¢ | $2.00 | — | $6.53 |
| 1975 | 57¢ | 13¢ | $2.10 | $2.03 | $5.98 |
| 1976 | 61¢ | 13¢ | $2.30 | — | $5.66 |
| 1977 | 66¢ | 13¢ | $2.30 | $2.23 | $5.31 |
| 1978 | 67¢ | 15¢ | $2.65 | $2.34 | $4.94 |
| 1979 | 90¢ | 15¢ | $2.90 | $2.47 | $4.43 |
| 1980 | $1.25 | 15¢ | $3.10 | ~$2.69 | $3.91 |
| 1981 | $1.38 | 20¢ | $3.35 | ~$2.78 | $3.54 |
| 1982 | $1.30 | 20¢ | $3.35 | ~$2.94 | $3.34 |
| 1983 | $1.24 | 20¢ | $3.35 | ~$3.15 | $3.23 |
| 1984 | $1.21 | 20¢ | $3.35 | ~$3.36 | $3.10 |
| 1985 | $1.20 | 22¢ | $3.35 | ~$3.55 | $2.99 |
| 1986 | 93¢ | 22¢ | $3.35 | ~$3.71 | $2.94 |
| 1987 | 95¢ | 22¢ | $3.35 | ~$3.91 | $2.83 |
| 1988 | 95¢ | 25¢ | $3.35 | ~$4.11 | $2.72 |
| 1989 | $1.02 | 25¢ | $3.35 | ~$4.45 | $2.60 |
| 1990 | $1.16 | 25¢ | $3.80 | ~$4.23 | $2.46 |
| 1991 | $1.14 | 29¢ | $4.25 | ~$4.21 | $2.36 |
| 1992 | $1.13 | 29¢ | $4.25 | ~$4.15 | $2.29 |
| 1993 | $1.11 | 29¢ | $4.25 | ~$4.14 | $2.23 |
| 1994 | $1.11 | 29¢ | $4.25 | ~$4.18 | $2.17 |
| 1995 | $1.15 | 32¢ | $4.25 | ~$4.35 | $2.11 |
| 1996 | $1.23 | 32¢ | $4.75 | ~$4.42 | $2.05 |
| 1997 | $1.23 | 32¢ | $5.15 | ~$4.59 | $2.01 |
| 1998 | $1.06 | 32¢ | $5.15 | ~$4.69 | $1.97 |
| 1999 | $1.17 | 33¢ | $5.15 | ~$5.06 | $1.93 |
Sources: EIA — Retail motor gasoline prices (Annual Energy Review, table 5.24) · USPS — Domestic letter rates since 1863 · U.S. Department of Labor — History of the federal minimum wage · Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis — Consumer Price Index, 1913–. Stamp and wage are the rates in effect at year end.
Questions
- Where do these prices come from?
- Federal records, not estimates: the U.S. Energy Information Administration for gasoline, the Postal Service's rate history for stamps, the Department of Labor for the minimum wage, and the Minneapolis Fed's CPI table for today's-dollar math. Movie ticket, car and home figures are the documented averages carried in our year data and shown with a tilde.
- How is "in today's dollars" calculated?
- By the Consumer Price Index: each year's annual CPI-U divided into the 2025 annual value gives a multiplier. It's the same method every inflation calculator uses; it measures general prices, so a specific item (a Nintendo, a house) can have gone up more or less.
- How much was gas in the '80s?
- It peaked at $1.38 a gallon in 1981, fell under a dollar by 1986 (93¢), and was $1.02 in 1989. Each year page has the figure and what it is in today's money.
- What was minimum wage when I got my first job?
- Pick your year. It was $3.35 from 1981 through the end of the decade, $3.80 in 1990, $4.25 from 1991, and $5.15 from late 1997. Every year page shows what a 40-hour week paid and what an hour bought in gas, stamps and movie tickets.