Gilded Age: How Much $30 Was In 1882
Warning: SPOILERS for The Gilded Age Episode 1 — “Never The New”
Set in 1882, The Gilded Agetakes place during a time of great economic growth within the United States. Business is booming and immigration is on the rise, but not everyone is rich. In fact, a massive wealth gap is forming in the United States. Some families are able to leave a financially healthy legacy for their descendants, but others are left to build their own legacy from nothing.
The show begins with Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) talking to a lawyer about her deceased father’s estate. Dressed in all black, clearly in mourning but hopeful that perhaps he has left her with something of value that can help her have a fresh start, Marian finds out that her father was not the savviest with his money and that she has been left with a meager sum. Right at the beginning of The Gilded Age, her remaining familyis all she has to turn to. Marian sells her furniture and heads to New York City to live with her Aunts Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Brook.
Related: The Gilded Age True Story: How Well It Gets The Real History Right
The lawyer tells Marian that after the funeral arrangements and other outstanding accounts have been paid, about $30 has been left to her. However, accounting for inflation, that number equates to something much larger today, but it still isn’t much. $30 in 1882 would be roughly $820.01 in 2022.
According to United States Census data, between 1880 and 1890, the average annual wage for an industrial worker rose from $380 to $564. So on the lower end of that spectrum, which is closer to when The Gilded Agetimelinestarts, at an annual income of $380, $30 would have been about a month’s wage. Marian references the railroad industry when talking to the
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