Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices 60 years ago today, as shown in this ad from the August 21, 1958, issue of the Milwaukee Journal.  You can click on the image above for a full-size image.

The prices look cheap, but keep in mind that there’s been a lot of inflation in the last sixty years, and the money is no longer backed by silver.  One way to compare pre-1964 prices is to remember that one dollar could be in the form of one silver dollar, four silver quarter, or ten silver dimes, all of which equaled approximately one ounce of silver.  The price of silver today is approximately $15 per ounce, meaning that to compare, you should multiply the prices by 15 to get the approximate price in today’s money.

Another way to compare prices is to look at the minimum wage. In 1958, the federal minimum wage was $1 per hour, but now it is $7.25 per hour. To use this metric to compare prices, you would multiply the prices shown here by $7.25.

The following chart shows the 1958 prices of various items, and the adjusted prices using each metric. Finally, it shows the price of a comparable product at Walmart.

By clicking the Walmart prices above, you can view the product and its current price, which might have changed from the price shown.  Links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase after clicking the link, this website receives a small commission.

For a look at other prices through history:  1939 prices, 1956 prices.

Here’s a snapshot of consumer grocery prices sixty years ago. This ad for Kroger’s appeared in the Pittsburgh Press, August 23, 1956.

It’s not a perfect method of comparing prices (because silver is also a commodity whose price varies), but the easiest way to compare pre-1964 prices is to remember that a dollar equaled one silver dollar, four silver quarters, or ten silver dimes, each of which weighed one ounce.  So if you think of the prices in terms of ounces of silver, you’ll get an idea of what prices were really like then.  The price of silver today is about $18, so by multiplying these prices by 18, you’ll get an idea of what items cost then.

A pound of ground beef cost 39 cents, but by this comparison, that would equal about $7 a pound.  A pint of mayonnaise was 47 cents, the equivalent of $8.46 in today’s money.  Tuna was two cans for 63 cents, which works out to $5.67 per can in today’s money.

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