Lettuce, romaine · per lb · 1939 Estimated
This figure may be significantly off. It is projected back 67 years from the first recorded price, using general inflation. Items do not track inflation evenly — groceries in particular were far more expensive relative to other goods before modern agriculture, so a figure this old can understate the real price by two-fold or more. Use it for a sense of scale, not as a historical price.
$0.09in June 1939 — about $2.26 in today's money.
- Price in 1939$0.09
- Same money today$2.26
- Actual price now · June 2026$4.02
- Change since 1939+4209%
Price history
Record & method
No price was recorded for 1939. This figure is estimated: we took the earliest observed price (January 2006) and moved it back along the category inflation curve — a back-cast of 67 years. The further back it reaches, the less it should be trusted. Treat it as an approximation, not a historical fact.
- Source
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED. Public domain.
- Series
- APU0000FL2101
- Estimated for
- June 1939
- Coverage
- January 2006 – June 2026
- Adjusted by
- CPIAUCNS · 13.8 → 333.952 (June 2026)
- Back-cast
- 67 years before the first record · very low confidence
- License
- Public domain