COST OF LIVING

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“His mouthpiece wears $200 suits.”

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“No wonder the cop took the fix. He makes a lousy 50 bucks a week.”

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“That mink set me back a grand, but she’s worth every penny."

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“Your cut of the heist is $100,000. You’ll never have to work for the rest of your life.”

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There is no simple formula that accurately converts all film noir products, salaries, and criminal takes to contemporary values. The rule of thumb: 14:1. A dollar in 1950 = $15 today.

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Salaries in 1950

Urban cop: $55 a week
Restaurant cashier: $25 a week
Burlesque dancer: $50+ a week
Lawyer: $9,000 a year
Federal Minimum Wage: 75¢ an hour
Average Family Income: $3,300 a year

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Working stiffs measured income by the week; “professionals” by the year.

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You could buy a decent family car in 1950 for the equivalent expenditure today, but there were far fewer American luxury choices, especially in the early 1950s. $6,000 ($95,000) was the most you could spend in that market — it would be a Cadillac or Continental or Imperial (Chrysler). High-end European and Asian models do not appear for another thirty years.

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In 1950:
5¢ for a phone call
5¢ for a jukebox play
20¢ for a pack of smokes

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Standard of living is the key to comparison — the number of hours you had to work to buy products and services was roughly the same in 1950 as it is today, with some notable exceptions, most dramatically home ownership.

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In 1950, the  median home price: $7500. The average home was smaller then, just under a​ thousand square feet. The median household income in 1950: $3,300, making the home price a little more than double the yearly income. The median household income today is about $85,000; the average home price is $430,000, five times that income.

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As today, wealth in the 1950s was concentrated at the top, a large middle class was expanding, and plenty were hanging on by a paycheck. But poverty was more widespread then, about double the current rate.