What things cost
1979
Gas was 90¢. A stamp was 15¢. Minimum wage was $2.90.
An hour at minimum wage bought 3.2 gallons of gas, or 1 movie ticket, or 19 stamps. A 40-hour week came to $116.00 before taxes, which is about $514.33 in 2025 dollars.
G33Z3R Radio · Receipt · 1979
- A gallon of regular gas
- 90¢≈ $3.99 today
- A first-class stamp
- 15¢≈ $0.67 today
- An hour at minimum wage
- $2.90≈ $12.86 today
- A movie ticket
- $2.47≈ ~$10.95 today
- A new car (average)
- ~$6,800≈ ~$30,150 today
- A home (median)
- ~$62,900≈ ~$278,891 today
$1 in 1979 ≈ $4.43 in 2025 · CPI-U 72.6 → 2025
🧮 1979 dollars → today
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 on December 31, 1979; ticket, car and home are documented averages.
What did your first paycheck buy in 1979? What did you earn, and what did you spend it on?
The drive, the dance, the heartbreak, the summer. Add a memory of 1979.
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