Electronics
One of the rare bright spots in the cost-of-living picture. Computing power, televisions, and consumer electronics have gotten dramatically cheaper on a performance-adjusted basis, even as sticker prices on flagship devices keep climbing.
Television Prices
The average selling price of a television in the United States, tracked from 1955 to 2025. TVs are one of the rare consumer products that have actually gotten cheaper over the decades — and dramatically so when you factor in what you're getting for the money. A $250 set in 1955 bought you a grainy black-and-white picture on a tiny screen. Today's $370 average gets you a 55-inch 4K smart TV with built-in streaming. It's arguably the best deflation story in all of consumer spending, and the data tells it clearly.
Personal Computer Prices
The average selling price of a personal computer in the United States, tracked from 1981 to 2025. When the IBM PC launched in 1981, you were looking at $3,100 for a machine with 16KB of RAM and no hard drive. Today, $570 gets you a laptop that's millions of times more powerful. PCs followed a relentless price-per-performance curve that's unmatched in consumer goods, though the raw sticker price tells its own interesting story — particularly the recent bump as remote work drove demand through the roof.
Smartphone Prices
Average selling price of smartphones in the United States, tracked from 2007 to 2025. The smartphone market has followed a fascinating pricing arc over its relatively short history. When the iPhone launched in 2007, the average smartphone sold for about $300. Prices dipped through the early 2010s as budget Android phones flooded the market, bottoming out around $255 in 2011. Then the premium trend took hold — bigger screens, better cameras, 5G radios — and average prices crept back up past $370 by 2022. The recent slight dip suggests the market may be finding its ceiling as upgrade cycles lengthen.
Video Game Prices
Average retail price of a new console video game in the United States, tracked from 1985 to 2025. Video game pricing is one of the strangest stories in consumer economics. For roughly fifteen years, from 1993 to 2005, the standard price point was locked at $49.99. Then it jumped to $59.99 in 2006 and stayed there for another fourteen years. The $69.99 bump in 2020 was the first increase most gamers had experienced in their lifetimes. In real terms, games have actually gotten cheaper — $49.99 in 1993 is about $105 in today's dollars, making the current $69.99 a genuine bargain by historical standards.
Internet Service Costs
Average monthly cost of broadband internet service in the United States, tracked from 1997 to 2025. The story of internet pricing is really two distinct chapters. The dial-up era was cheap — around $20 a month got you online in the late '90s. Then broadband arrived around 2000 and prices immediately doubled to $40. Since then, it's been a slow, relentless grind upward, reaching $74 by 2025. The frustrating part is that while speeds have improved enormously, the cost per megabit hasn't dropped nearly as fast as the technology would suggest. Limited competition in most markets keeps prices sticky.
Cell Phone Plan Costs
Average monthly cost of a wireless phone plan in the United States, tracked from 1990 to 2025. Cell phone plans are a rare bright spot in the consumer price landscape — one of the few recurring expenses that has genuinely gotten cheaper over time. In 1990, a basic cellular plan ran $89 a month and gave you maybe 60 minutes of talk time. Today's $37.50 gets you unlimited calls, texts, and a generous data bucket. The big decline happened in the '90s as competition heated up and the network build-out costs got amortized. Prices have been essentially flat since 2020, suggesting we've hit the floor.
Streaming Service Prices
Monthly cost of a standard Netflix streaming plan in the United States, used as a proxy for average streaming service pricing, tracked from 2007 to 2025. Streaming started as the greatest entertainment bargain in history and has been steadily becoming a more normal — and more expensive — part of the monthly budget. Netflix launched its streaming add-on at $5.99 in 2007, and for a while it felt like you were getting away with something. But the economics of content creation eventually caught up, and the price has tripled to $17.99 by 2025. And that's just one service in a landscape where most households subscribe to three or four.
Camera Prices
Average price of a consumer camera in the United States, tracked from 1970 to 2025. The camera market tells one of the most dramatic disruption stories in consumer electronics. From 1970 to 2001, prices rose steadily as film cameras got more sophisticated, peaking near $290 when early digital cameras commanded premium prices. Then the bottom fell out. Digital technology matured fast, manufacturing costs plummeted, and — most critically — smartphones started eating the low-end market alive. Prices dropped below $135 by 2017. The recent uptick to $178 reflects a market that has pivoted almost entirely to enthusiast and professional gear.
Microwave Oven Prices
Average price of a countertop microwave oven in the United States, tracked from 1975 to 2025. The microwave is the poster child for how technology adoption drives prices down. When these things first showed up in home kitchens in the mid-'70s, they cost $400 — that's over $2,200 in today's dollars for what was essentially a novelty appliance. By the early 2010s, mass production and commoditization had pushed the average below $70. The recent uptick toward $82 reflects a shift toward slightly fancier models with convection, sensor cooking, and smart features, but microwaves remain one of the cheapest appliances you can buy.
Calculator Prices
Average price of a basic handheld calculator in the United States, tracked from 1972 to 2025. If you want to see what genuine technological deflation looks like, look no further. In 1972, a basic four-function calculator cost $395 — roughly what a decent laptop costs today. Within just four years, that price had cratered to $32. By the early 1980s, calculators were under $15, and by the '90s they had essentially become disposable items at $5 apiece. The price has been completely flat for over three decades now, which makes sense — you can't really go much lower than five bucks for a physical product.