08/28/2024
Just some interesting facts to think about How much did a new car cost in 1985?
The car rental company said the average purchase price of a subcompact car in 1985 was $7,683, up $1,041 from $6,642 in 1984; a compact at $9,834 went up $721 from $9,113; an intermediate at $10,509 went up $406 from $10,103; and a full-size car at $13,829 went up $990 from $12,839. in todays dollars that would be $52,619 for a Full size car .
In 1985, the median household income in the United States was $23,620, according to the March 1986 Current Population Survey (CPS). The federal minimum wage in 1985 was $3.35 per hour. This rate remained in place from 1981 to 1989. In 1985, a full-time, year-round employee earning the minimum wage would have had a total income slightly below the poverty line for a nonelderly family of two, assuming they had no other sources of income.
According to a 1985 New York Times article, the median price of a single-family home in New York City and its suburbs was $125,400 in the first three months of that year. This was 25% more than the previous year and 78% more than three years earlier, and the article noted that home prices in the area were rising faster than anywhere else in the country.
Adjusted for inflation, $125,000 in 1985 is equal to $364,133 in 2024.
Annual inflation over this period was 2.78%.
Microwave oven
If you wanted to reheat leftovers quickly in 1985, you could get an 0.8-cubic-foot microwave from Sears for about $240. You'd nuke your budget at the same time, though, as that's the equivalent of $585 today. Sears now offers a similar model for $70.
IBM computer
The powerhouse of the home-computing world in 1985, an IBM PC XT would have set you back $4,395, assuming you got two disk drives and a monster 10-megabyte hard drive. In current dollars that's $10,705. Today, however, you can get a very nice ThinkPad T480 from Lenovo — which took over IBM's PC business in 2005 — for about $700. It includes a 512-gigabyte hard drive, a wireless internet connection and a 14-inch screen. And you can carry it around with you.
