Grocery prices in 1981
In 1981, a dozen large eggs cost $0.90 and a gallon of regular gas cost $1.38 in the U.S., and the average hourly wage was $7.43.
1981 vs 2025
- A dozen large eggs$0.90 → $4.25 (+372%)7.3 → 8.1 minutes of work
- A pound of white bread$0.53 → $1.87 (+253%)4.3 → 3.6 minutes of work
- A gallon of regular gas$1.38 → $3.26 (+136%)11 → 6.2 minutes of work
- A pound of sliced bacon$1.67 → $7.02 (+320%)13 → 13 minutes of work
- A pound of bananas$0.36 → $0.65 (+81%)2.9 → 1.2 minutes of work
- A half gallon of ice cream$2.02 → $6.37 (+215%)16 → 12 minutes of work
- A pound of ground coffee$2.53 → $8.18 (+223%)20 → 16 minutes of work
- A 16 oz bag of potato chips$2.28 → $6.71 (+194%)18 → 13 minutes of work
- A pound of whole chicken$0.73 → $2.06 (+182%)5.9 → 3.9 minutes of work
- A pound of chocolate chip cookies$1.73 → $5.05 (+192%)14 → 9.7 minutes of work
- A pound of tomatoes$0.77 → $1.84 (+139%)6.2 → 3.5 minutes of work
- A pound of white sugar$0.40 → $1.02 (+155%)3.2 → 2.0 minutes of work
- Frozen orange juice concentrate$1.39 → $4.59 (+230%)11 → 8.8 minutes of work
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data (U.S. city average) and average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees. Yearly figures are the mean of the monthly ones. Prices are in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation; minutes of work is the adjustment.
What changed
The wage went from $7.43 to $31.34 an hour. The whole basket above took about 135 minutes of work in 1981 and about 101 in 2025.
The biggest price rise was a dozen large eggs, +372%, from $0.90 to $4.25.
Measured in work, a pound of bananas got the most affordable: about 2.9 minutes in 1981, about 1.2 now.
Play with these numbers
Price Year shows five receipts like this one and asks for the year. Then & Now asks what one item cost in an earlier year, and Inflation Ladder asks which rose the most.