The 1960s was a magical time. Buying with a dollar gave you a lot of options. You could come out with an entire bag of goodies. Times have changed. Here’s a look back at the 1960s to see the value of a dollar.
Table of Contents
- 1 1. Five Gallons of Gas
- 2 2. Movie Ticket with Popcorn
- 3 3. Twenty Candy Bars
- 4 4. Four McDonald’s Hamburgers
- 5 5. Ten Bottles of Coca-Cola
- 6 6. Three Packs of Cigarettes
- 7 7. Twenty Phone Calls
- 8 8. Two Dozen Eggs
- 9 9. Five Pounds of Bananas
- 10 10. Ten Jukebox Plays
- 11 11. Three Gallons of Milk
- 12 12. Twenty Stamps
- 13 13. Ten Comic Books
1. Five Gallons of Gas
Four gallons of gas was less than a dollar back in the early 1960s. You got windshield cleaning and a friendly chat from the gas station worker. Getting your car filled was easy.
Save for later
Want to come back to this story? Save it with your email so it is easy to find again.
2. Movie Ticket with Popcorn
Going to the movies was really fun. In the early 1960s a movie ticket cost about 50–75 cents, and a small bag of popcorn was 10–20 cents. You could go to the movies for a dollar and even have money left over for a snack.
3. Twenty Candy Bars
Candy bars in the 60s were 5 cents. That means you could buy 20 in a single trip. The corner store had your back if you were craving chocolate.
4. Four McDonald’s Hamburgers
In the early 1960s, buying a McDonald’s burger cost a mere 15 cents! This means that with only a dollar, you could buy six of them and even be able to get change back, or buy four burgers and a small size french fries. The golden arches and simple menu were a hit for families.
5. Ten Bottles of Coca-Cola
A 6.5-ounce glass bottle of Coca-Cola cost 10 cents including the deposit. This meant that you could get 10 bottles for a backyard party. Once you finished drinking the bottles, you could return them to the store for a nickel and make some money back.
6. Three Packs of Cigarettes
At the start of the decade, buying a pack of cigarettes only cost 30 to 35 cents. This means that you could buy three cigarette packs for under a dollar. Considering how expensive cigarettes are now-a-days, we didn’t understand how severe the habit was back then.
7. Twenty Phone Calls
In the early sixties, calling someone from a payphone was 5 cents, meaning that you could have twenty conversations for a dollar. Local calls were cheap and provided news at the distance.
8. Two Dozen Eggs
Most eggs during the sixties cost less than a dollar and a dozen eggs. Kitchen staples meant chickens were affordable enough to keep everyone happy at the breakfast table.
9. Five Pounds of Bananas
In the 1960s, bananas cost a mere 12-15 cents a pound. This would mean that one could buy six to eight pounds of bananas for a dollar, depending on the year and store. Bananas were everywhere, from lunch boxes to fruit bowls.
10. Ten Jukebox Plays
You could pick a song at the diner or soda shop jukebox for a dime. A dollar let you play ten songs meaning you could listen to Elvis, The Beatles, or The Supremes all afternoon while sipping on a milkshake with friends. Elvis songs used to be playing in the background.
11. Three Gallons of Milk
In the 1960s, one gallon of milk would cost 49-55 cents. Families were still getting milk delivered to their front door in glass bottles. For a dollar you could buy almost two gallons of milk or if you were lucky enough to find a deal early in the decade, you could buy three gallons.
12. Twenty Stamps
At the beginning of the decade, first class postage stamps were 4 cents. Then in 1963 it changed to five cents. With a dollar, you could buy twenty stamps which meant you could send a birthday card to your friends or keep in contact with your pen pals.
13. Ten Comic Books
Most comic books were ten cents each and dollar would let you buy ten comics. You could get comics with stories of Superman, Batman or Spider-Man. Today some of those comics are worth a lot of money to collectors.
