It’s a comparison of what kind of things you can buy with that money. In 1850, a dozen eggs cost 10 cents, now it costs $5, or whatever the conversion happens to be. In 1850, a typical wage for an unskilled factory worker was 50 cents an hour, now it’s $25 an hour. In 1850, a one-bedroom apartment rented for $15 a month. Now it rents for $900 a month.
So what a dollar gets you has changed.
Latest Answers