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Six Families Budget Their Money, 1884

These six family budgets collected by the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1884 show the range of family incomes and spending patterns within the working class. Although skill level was probably the most important determinant of wages, relatively few male breadwinners were able to earn a “family wage”—enough to support their wives and children decently. Most families pooled their members’ wages in what historians call the “family economy.” The wages of children and teenagers often meant the difference between a modicum of comfort and mere survival, and women who were not working for wages sometimes brought in money by operating home-based businesses such as washing clothes or keeping boarders. Women also contributed to the family’s economic survival by managing the household budget, sharing resources with other female householders, and scavenging for discarded food, clothes, and fuel. Unlike current times, prices were not constantly rising in the late-19th century, and the period’s declining prices (particularly food prices) allowed a modest, gradual improvement in working-class living standards.

AMERICAN COAL MINER

EARNINGS: Of father $250

CONDITION: Family numbers 7 - husband, wife, and five children, three girls and two boys, aged from three to nineteen years. Three of them go to the public school. Family live in 2-room tenement, in healthy locality, for which they pay $6 per month rent. The house is scantily furnished, without carpets, but is kept neat and clean. They are compelled to live very economically, and every cent they earn is used to the best advantage. Father had only thirty weeks work during the past year. He belongs to trade union. The figures for cost of living are actual and there is no doubt the family lived on the amount specified.

FOOD:

Breakfast—Bread, coffee, and salt meat.

Dinner—Meat, bread, coffee, and butter.

Supper—Sausage, bread, and coffee.

COST OF LIVING:

Rent $72

Fuel $20

Meat $20

Groceries $60

Clothing $28

Boots and shoes $15

Dry goods $20

Trade union $3

Sickness $10

Sundries $5

Total $253

ENGLISH IRON AND STEEL WORKER

EARNINGS:

Of father $1,420

Of son, aged fourteen $300

Total $1,720

CONDITION: Family numbers 6 - parents and four children; two boys and two girls, aged from seven to sixteen years. Three of them attend school, and the other works in the shop with his father. Family occupy their own house, containing 9 well furnished rooms, in a pleasant and healthy locality. They have a good vegetable and flower garden. They live well, but not extravagantly, and are saving about a thousand dollars per year. Father receives an average of $7 per day of twelve hours, for his labor, and works about thirty-four weeks of the year. Belongs to trade union, but carries no life insurance. Had but little sickness during the year.

FOOD:

Breakfast—Bread, butter, meat, eggs, and sometimes oysters.

Dinner—Potatoes, bread, butter, meat, pie, cake, or pudding.

Supper—Bread, butter, meat, rice or sauce, and tea or coffee.

COST OF LIVING:

Fuel $55

Meat $100

Groceries $300

Clothing $75

Boots and shoes $50

Dry goods $50

Books, papers, etc. $10

Trade union $6

Sickness $12

Sundries $50

Total $708

IRISH COAL MINER

EARNINGS:

Of father $420

Of son, twenty-one years of age $420

Of son, eighteen years of age $420

Of son, sixteen years of age $150

Total $1,410

CONDITION: Family numbers 6 - parents and four children, three boys and one girl. The girl attends school, and the three boys are working in the mine. Father owns a house of six rooms, which is clean and very comfortably furnished. Family temperate, and members of a church, which they attend with regularity. They have an acre of ground, which they work in summer, and raise vegetables for their consumption. They have their house about paid for, payments being made in installments of $240 per year. Father belongs to mutual assessment association and to trade union.

FOOD:

Breakfast—Steak, bread, butter, potatoes, bacon, and coffee.

Dinner—Bread, butter, meat, cheese, pie, and tea.

Supper—Meat, potatoes, bread, butter, puddings, pie, and coffee.

COST OF LIVING:

Rent $240

Fuel $10

Meat $200

Groceries $700

Clothing $80

Boots, shoes, and dry goods $70

Books, papers, etc. $15

Life insurance $18

Trade union $3

Sickness $4

Sundries $75

Total $1,415

IRISH LABORER

EARNINGS: Of father $343

CONDITION: Family numbers 5 - parents and three children, two girls, aged seven and five, and boy, eight. They occupy a rented house of 4 rooms, and pay a rental, monthly, of $7. Two of the children attend school. Father complains of the wages he receives, being but $1.10 per day, and says it is extremely difficult for him to support his family upon that amount. His work consists in cleaning yards, basements, outbuildings, etc., and is, in fact, a regular scavenger. He also complains of the work as being very unhealthy, but it seems he can procure no other work.

FOOD:

Breakfast—Black coffee, bread, and potatoes

Dinner—Corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes.

Supper—Bread, coffee, and potatoes.

COST OF LIVING:

Rent $84

Fuel $15

Meat and groceries $180

Clothing, boots and shoes, dry goods $40

Sundries $20

Total $339

ITALIAN LABORER

EARNINGS: Of father $270.00

CONDITION: Family numbers 5 - parents and three children, all boys, aged one, three, and five. Live in one room, for which they pay $4 per month rent. A very dirty and unhealthy place, everything perfectly filthy. There are about fifteen other families living in the same house. They buy the cheapest kind of meat from the neighboring slaughterhouses and the children pick up fuel on the streets and rotten eatables from the commission houses. Children do not attend school. They are all ignorant in the full sense of the word. Father could not write his name.

FOOD:

Breakfast—Coffee and bread.

Dinner—Soup.

Supper—Coffee and bread.

COST OF LIVING:

Rent $48

Fuel $5

Meat and groceries $100

Clothing, boots and shoes, and dry goods $15

Sickness $5

Total $173

SCANDINAVIAN LABORER

EARNINGS:

Of father $240

Of daughter, aged seventeen $340

Of son, aged fifteen $200

Total $780

CONDITION: Family numbers 5 - parents and three children, two boys, aged fifteen and seven, and a girl, aged seventeen. Live in a 4-room house, and pay $10 per month rent for the same. House is comfortable, but poorly furnished, and is in unhealthy location. Family attends church. Their expenditures exceed their income .

FOOD:

Breakfast—Meat, potatoes, bread, and coffee.

Dinner—Lunches .

Supper—Soup, bread, and meat.

COST OF LIVING:

Rent $120

Fuel $15

Meat and groceries $300

Clothing, boots and shoes, dry goods $120

Books, papers, etc. $5

Sickness $40

Sundries $250

Total $850

Source: Illinois Bureau of Statistics, Third Biennial Report, (Springfield, Ill.: 1884).