Much has changed since the legendary summer of 1969, both socially and economically. To analyze the variance in purchasing power between then and now, we have compared a number of popular consumer products by price that are still relevant today. The figures from 1969 have been adjusted for inflation to give us a better idea of what the actual cost of each item would be in today’s economy. Given the bleak financial outlook which faces us this coming summer, it does us all a bit of good to look back with nostalgia on a time of blissful optimism and free love.
Note: Prices from 1969 are inflation-adjusted!
{ 122 comments… read them below or add one }
$325 an ounce? Sometimes I love Canada.
Not enough Bryan Adams
Dude, gas was not $2.07 a gallon in 1969. In fact, pumps of that time were analog and did not even register above $1. The average cost of a gallon of gas in 1969 was roughly 39 cents!
RT
http://www.whos-watching.se.tc
Way off. Gas in 1969 averaged 39 cents per gallon.
Are you saying a gallon of gas cost $2.03 in 1969??
You have left out the elephant in the room: cost of housing [per sqft].
Not sure where the hell your from but those prices are from 2000 not 2009.
Pot does not cost $325 an ounce. If it did I would not smoke it everyday. Do some real research and stop getting ripped off.
who pays $325 for an ounce of the good grass?
seriously, you’re paying way too much
I don’t know about some of those 1969 prices, but some of them are way off. That’s the government for you. I bought the Abbey Road album at J.C. Penny’s In 1971 and paid $7.99 and that was full price. the Daily paper was .10 cents and Sunday was a quarter. A cup of coffee was a dime, in 1969 at most diners maybe a quarter at denny’s.I don’t know what weed was, because I didn’t smoke it in 1969, but it was a 1/3 that in 1976 for good domestic, an ounce of Colombian in 1976 was $140.
Who the hell pays $325 for an ounce of buds?
I don’t know about these prices.
Ok, in the mid 70′s we could get an ounce of pot for $40, a gallon of gas for about $0.65/gallon (maybe a bit more), a record album for somewhere between $5 and $8. This is totally in error.
uhm, i don’t mean to be one of those sticklers for detail. This is a very cool and relative post, but the Summer of Love was actually 1967. Sorry. No offense intended.
Some of these prices are definitely wrong. Gas was NOT 2+ dollars a gallon 69. A cup of coffee was 50 cents or less. Otherwise, very interesting.
Hey, I was there and you are way off. Albums were around $3.50; concerts were $6.00; shirts aroun $3.00; Levis $5.50; coffee $0.25 cents; Vw van $1,800.00; Gas $0.36 cents. Idiot!
$325 for a oz of weed??? Where tha fuck do you live?! Try $200/oz of purple kush. You’re getting grifted brotha.
$140 for an ounce of marijuana?! Either someone’s lying to you or you got royally screwed.
In the LA area, it was $10 for a lid, sometimes $20 if it was really good stuff. $140 would have bought a whole key in ’69. But if you were really smart, you had a plant growing in the back yard or on the window sill. Properly tended, you could keep yourself stoned all year.
But nobody I know ever paid for it, we all just shared. The only people paying for it were the 30-somethings in the offices who liked to pretend they were cool.
Record album 17.43 in 1969? Say what? LOL! Try $5.00.
Where do you get these prices for 1969? How old are you? LOL!
Sorry man… You got your numbers wrong.
Pot 15.00 per OZ
GAS 0.35 per Gal
Les Paul 700.00
This chart is ridiculous! Nobody paid $17.43 for an LP in 1969, nor $2.03 for a gallon of gas. Where did you get these figures?
The “Summer of Love” refers to the summer of 1967, not the summer of 1969 – thats a Bryan Adams song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Love
300+ for an ounce? you’re kidding me…
Guys, those are inflation-adjusted numbers. Guess we should have made that a bit more obvious so everyone doesn’t freak out. Also, price for marijuana is base on third-party official source. We’re also aware that historically the term “The Summer of Love” was for the movement that started in 1967, but regardless it made an impact for the late 60s. Plus, it’s more fun comparing 40 years apart than say… 42 years. Lastly, the few comments on Bryan Adams shows that its easy to recognize where Summer of Love ’69 is from!
Are people really having that big of an issue with the phrase “inflation-adjusted” here?
Wow, people really need to do a better job of “reading” the damn piece before bashing it. All numbers are inflation adjusted as clearly mentioned at the top of the piece. Jeez.
INFLATION ADJUSTED PRICES.
LEARN TO READ.
Are you people stupid? Did you read the text at the top of the chart? Jesus, you’re the same people that start taking a test without reading the instructions at the top and do it all wrong.
Inflation adjusted prices.
Relative change.
Of course gas didn’t cost $2 in 1969. The author is showing us how much gas would be in 1969 with inflation adjusted prices.
The graph is basically trying to show us that sh*t costs too much these days in comparison.
Im apparently the only person who understans inflation adjusted prices. It was made quite clear, at the top of the graphic. I will split hairs about the price of pot. Try more around $120.
Just FYI, I added in the bold NOTE before the graphics after the comments came storming in. As mentioned, we probably could have highlight the other one within the graphics but didn’t think it was an issue or people would have recognized it right away, our bad?
Hi I am Joe Commenter and I don’t know how to read and so I fly off the handle on the internet and comment before reading intro paragraphs that include relevant details that help average people understand what they are looking at.
wow i cant believe nobody here even took the time to read the article that clearly stated those ’69 prices are adjusted for inflation, and then they start bitching about error!?!? please in the future just try to know what you are whining about before being assholes about someone elses work. Those prices are totally realistic in comparision to today’s economy, but i was really surprised to see that newspaper are cheaper now then at the time. Good job on that chart.
uh i think some of these prices are wrong… $325/ ounce is just criminal… maybe dank i guess
WRONG! Weed was $10 an ounce in 1969. Gas was 29 cents a gallon and you got a set of glasses, full service for the price with a fill up. A cup of coffee was maybe 25 cents and when I left San Diego moving to Northern California in 1971 a VW bug was $7,999.00. That was the sign I saw as I was driving north out of San Diego at the dealer.
Levi 501′s were 5.99 and the cost to the company selling them was $3.33. The San Diego Union Tribune was 25 cents as well as the price of bus fare was 25 cents.
Converse All Stars were not $46.00 dollars. I can’t put an exact dollar figure on it but it was no where near that price.
Inflation adjusted price? Your results are misleading at best as a teenager, I could not have afforded a relative $325 for a bag of weed.
Thank you Aaron! I also noticed the numbers seemed off, until I noticed the bold print that stated, “Prices from 1969 are inflation-adjusted!”
So for anyone who is commenting on the price of Weed, I would love to know where you get yours, the cheapest OZ you can get around here is 350+, thats in Colorado…
As you can see everybody is freaking out about the prices for ’69 being over the top is because they’re all stoned! Wake up! Inflation adjusted is how much the product would cost today. BTW back in the early ’90s 300 Bucks for an Oz was a deal- Anyone remember the drought of 91&92 when nobody could get weed?
There’s the high school Economics requirement working for you!
It was the summer of 69!
BillShrink Guy is right… you guys can’t read. Don’t skip over the words and jump to the pictures… this isn’t playboy.
It’s kind of funny that those missing that the prices were inflation adjusted picked up on the price of gas, but no one commented that the price of VW bus would have bought a house if those were 1969 dollars. The price of a TV would have been nearly the average US salary if those were 1969 dollars.
I never post comments to blog articles, but this one is just too funny!! Everyone wants to be a critic to everyone else…
First 20 comments are yelling about how the prices are wrong and how stupid the author is. Then you make it clear its inflation adjusted.
Next bunch of comments are all telling the first group how stupid they are for not understanding the concept of inflation adjusted numbers. Then you have to make it clear to the 2nd group that the 1st group didn’t have the bold “inflation adjusted numbers” tag in the graphic initially.
… and now you have me – the 3rd group – telling the 2nd group that they are stupid for telling the 1st group that they are stupid for telling the author that he is stupid.
Ah, the internet at its finest!
Of course gas wasn’t that expensive, and neither were albums.
THE ARTHUR WAS SHOWING WHAT THE PRICE WOULD BE TODAY FACTORING INFLATION.
Everyone understand?
People don’t know the meaning of inflation adjusted prices…. Just goes to show you how stupid people really are.
Everyone who keeps saying that the prices are wrong needs to up their reading comprehension.
It says “inflation adjusted prices”. That means it is comparing the relative cost of items now and then, not the actual prices.
Wow…where the hell was gas 2 dollars in ’69? Chuck Taylors were less than 20 bucks, you could buy a VW Bus brand new for less than 8 grand, a standard Gibson Les Paul was around $600 or less, and a 3 day ticket for woodstock was 24 bucks. Great idea, horrible research.
No, it’s not your bad. Some people just don’t know how to read.
Just goes to show that Americans need “Hooked on Mathematics” as well as “Hooked on Phonics”. You guys should not have given those tools the pleasure of an answer.
$325 a oz for weed is highway robbery… if you are paying more then $200 you are getting ripped off.
apparently, I was reading the comments and its pretty interesting how everyone can’t comprehend inflation-adjusted prices lol.