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40th Anniversary

What Things Cost

A look at the exponential rise of New York’s cost of living over the past 40 years. (Prices not adjusted for inflation—what you see is what you pay.)

Burger at ‘21’ Club Movie Ticket Triborough Bridge toll Knish at Yonah Schimmel
$5 → $30 $3.75 → $12 $.25 → $5 $.35 → $3
New York University Undergraduate Tuition Pack of Marlboros Broadway-Show Ticket Room at the Waldorf-Astoria
$2,100 → $37,372 $.35 → $9 $6.21 → $113.18 $18.43 → $559
Box Seats at Yankee Stadium Martini at the Algonquin Hotel Average Taxi Fare (2.5-Mile) The New York Times
$4 → $250 $1.25 → $18 $1.48 → $11.14 $.10 → $1.50
Large Cheese Pizza at Lombardi's Marijuana (per ounce) MoMA Admission Serendipity Frozen Hot Chocolate
$4.50 → $19.50 $15 → $400 $1.25 → $20 $1.75 → $8.50
One Pound of Nova Scotia Smoked Salmon Village Vanguard Cover Charge Subway Fare Financial District Shoe Shine
$9.95 → $34 $3.50 → $25
(No drink minimum to $10 drink minimum)
$.20 → $2 $.25 → $3


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