What did a new car cost?

First year. Try the year you were born or the year you bought your first car.

Second year. Income figures end in 2025. 2026 means January to August 2026.

Your two years. The price from 1967 is the government’s average for new passenger cars; the entry-level Ford has a price for 1913 to 1927 and 1956 only, and the two are different cars, so compare weeks across them with care. After-tax pay is a federal estimate for one single factory worker: income tax, Social Security and Medicare, no state tax and no credits. Household income starts in 1967 and ends in 2025. Gasoline starts in 1935 and is partly estimated from 1935 to 1975. 2026 means January to August 2026. Where a figure has no number for a year it says No data.

A new car, then and now. A new car is a different car in each year: bigger and with more features today. Weeks of pay use a factory worker’s take-home pay. 2026 means January to August 2026.

Sticker price against the quality-adjusted index. The Bureau’s new-vehicle index removes the value of added features and equipment that the law now requires, so it rises less than the sticker price. The sticker price is what you pay; the index measures the price of a car of unchanged quality. The car price is the government’s average for passenger cars only (US$34,101 in 2026); Kelley Blue Book, a company, reports about US$50,000 for all new vehicles, which is the company’s own figure.

Cars in years with a price. Years in the list that have no new-car price are left out. The entry-level Ford is the lowest-priced model, so its weeks of pay are not comparable with the average car’s. 1913 has no factory pay figure.