Calculator Prices Price History
1972–2025 · BLS / Texas Instruments
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.
Price in 1972
$395.00
Price in 2025
$5.00
Total Change
-98.7%
Years Tracked
53
Calculator Prices Over Time
Compare to inflation: The chart above shows nominal (not inflation-adjusted) prices. Use the toggle to switch to inflation-adjusted values when available, or try the inflation calculator to convert any amount between years.
Key Insights
- The basic calculator experienced the fastest price collapse of any consumer electronic in history — from $395 in 1972 to $5 by 1991, a 99% decline in under two decades. Nothing else even comes close to that rate of deflation.
- The price has been effectively frozen at $5 since the early 1990s. At that point, the manufacturing cost bottomed out and the product became so cheap that further price reductions weren't worth the effort for retailers.
- The 1972-to-1976 drop from $395 to $32 was driven by the semiconductor revolution. As chip fabrication scaled up, the cost of the logic circuits inside a calculator went from dollars to fractions of a penny.
- In inflation-adjusted terms, the 1972 calculator price of $395 is equivalent to about $2,900 today. The fact that the same basic function now costs $5 represents roughly a 99.8% real price decline — the most extreme deflation story in all of consumer products.
Year-by-Year Data
| Year | Price (USD) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | $395.00 | — |
| 1973 | $200.00 | -49.4% |
| 1974 | $100.00 | -50.0% |
| 1975 | $50.00 | -50.0% |
| 1976 | $32.00 | -36.0% |
| 1977 | $25.00 | -21.9% |
| 1978 | $20.00 | -20.0% |
| 1979 | $18.00 | -10.0% |
| 1980 | $16.00 | -11.1% |
| 1981 | $14.00 | -12.5% |
| 1982 | $12.00 | -14.3% |
| 1983 | $11.00 | -8.3% |
| 1984 | $10.00 | -9.1% |
| 1985 | $9.00 | -10.0% |
| 1986 | $8.00 | -11.1% |
| 1987 | $7.00 | -12.5% |
| 1988 | $7.00 | +0.0% |
| 1989 | $6.00 | -14.3% |
| 1990 | $6.00 | +0.0% |
| 1991 | $5.00 | -16.7% |
| 1992 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 1993 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 1994 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 1995 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 1996 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 1997 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 1998 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 1999 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2000 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2001 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2002 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2003 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | $5.00 | +0.0% |
Sources & Methodology
BLS historical price data combined with industry reports and Texas Instruments pricing archives. Figures represent the average retail price of a basic handheld calculator (four-function or simple scientific). Does not include graphing calculators, which occupy a separate and much more expensive market segment.
Primary source: BLS / Texas Instruments
For a full explanation of how we collect and adjust data, see our methodology page.