About Paycheck Checkout
Type what you earn a month and the year that pay belongs to. Pick an item on the shelf. The counter shows how much of it one hour or one day of your pay buys in the month shown on the timeline. Drag the timeline (January 1980 to September 2026) or press play.
How wages compare with grocery prices since 1980
A dozen eggs cost $0.879 in January 1980 in the BLS US city average series, or about 8.0 minutes of work at the hourly earnings used here. In September 2026, eggs cost $2.272, or about 4.2 minutes.
Eggs reached $6.227 per dozen in March 2025, equal to about 12.0 minutes of work. By September 2026 the same measure was about 4.2 minutes. Monthly observations preserve price swings that an annual average can hide.
White bread cost $0.501 per pound in January 1980 and $1.830 in September 2026; work time went from about 4.6 to 3.4 minutes. A gallon of gasoline went from about 10.3 to 8.2 minutes. The hourly earnings series rose from $6.57 to $32.60 over those months.
These examples use BLS average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees in the private sector. They do not use minimum wages, median wages or every worker's income. The example links set monthly pay to the 2025 average hourly earnings times 173.33 hours. Entering a different wage changes the absolute quantities and work minutes. The large paycheck follows CES earnings growth; the smaller line follows all-items CPI-U prices.
The series covers 15 items from January 1980 through September 2026. The milk and beer price series used here begin in July 1995. Missing price months, including October 2025, stay marked: the counter carries the previous price with a notice, and missing CPI displays a dash. Carried prices are not new observations for the missing month.
| Item | 1980-01 | 2026-09 |
|---|---|---|
| Eggs · dozen | $0.879 8.0 min | $2.272 4.2 min |
| Milk · gallon | — | $4.106 7.6 min |
| White bread · lb | $0.501 4.6 min | $1.830 3.4 min |
| Flour · lb | $0.203 1.9 min | $0.545 1.0 min |
| Sugar · lb | $0.273 2.5 min | $1.019 1.9 min |
| Bananas · lb | $0.319 2.9 min | $0.656 1.2 min |
| Tomatoes · lb | $0.703 6.4 min | $1.992 3.7 min |
| Whole chicken · lb | $0.699 6.4 min | $2.064 3.8 min |
| Ground chuck · lb | $1.821 16.6 min | $6.483 11.9 min |
| Bacon · lb | $1.453 13.3 min | $6.756 12.4 min |
| Potato chips · 16 oz bag | $1.981 18.1 min | $6.668 12.3 min |
| Ice cream · half gallon | $1.755 16.0 min | $5.931 10.9 min |
| Orange juice · 16 oz | $1.243 11.4 min | $4.817 8.9 min |
| Beer · 16 oz | — | $1.875 3.5 min |
| Gasoline · gallon | $1.131 10.3 min | $4.482 8.2 min |
Two ways to convert your paycheck
Big number, by wage level. The typed pay follows changes in national average hourly earnings: pay × average hourly earnings that month ÷ average hourly earnings in your year.
Small line, “In prices”. The typed pay follows changes in all-items consumer prices: pay × CPI that month ÷ CPI in your year.
The counter uses the wage-level number. One hour of pay is the monthly figure ÷ 173.33 (40 hours a week × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months); a day is 8 hours.
The wage-level scaling depends only on the national average wage, so everybody sees the same change over time. What you type only sets the absolute numbers.
Auto picks the shortest span (an hour, else a day) that buys at least 6 of the item at the prices of your own year, so cheap things use an hour and pricey ones a day. It does not change while you scrub.
Data
Prices and CPI use BLS U.S. city average series; earnings use the national private-sector CES series. These data are public domain. Latest included month: September 2026.
- Prices: Average Price Data (AP), one series per item.
- Wages: Current Employment Statistics, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees, total private.
- Price index: CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted.
This is an independent project. It is not produced, endorsed or approved by BLS.
Things worth knowing
- The wage series covers production and nonsupervisory employees of private employers, not everyone. Your year’s value is the average of its months, so the typed pay does not jump while you scrub.
- Missing months are missing. BLS did not collect some months (notably October 2025, during the federal government shutdown). The counter keeps the last known price and shows a sign; the CPI line shows “—” that month. Nothing is filled in with an invented number.
- The milk and beer price series used here start in July 1995, so the counter is empty for earlier months.
- Prices are national averages for specific products and BLS occasionally changes a product’s definition. Orange juice is frozen concentrate priced per 16 oz; beer is “malt beverages, all types” per 16 oz (a pint).
Your numbers
Calculations run in your browser. Your pay, year, item and month are included in the page address and shared link; avoid sharing the link if you want to keep those numbers private.
Price history by item
Related works
Housing Diorama · US metro housing permits and affordability. Career Town · Employment, wages and AI exposure by occupation.
About LifeVen
Paycheck Checkout is a studio piece by LifeVen. We design and build websites, apps and interactive experiences like this one.
© 2026 LifeVen LLC. Share screenshots or recordings with credit and a link. Third-party data and software retain their own licenses; LifeVen’s original site code is not licensed for reuse. For illustration, without warranty; data may be incomplete or outdated. Not affiliated with the source organizations.