Candy Price Calculator: What Old Candy Would Cost Today
How much would your nickel candy bar cost in today’s money? Enter what you paid and the year, and we’ll adjust it for inflation using the official US Consumer Price Index.
🪙 Then vs now calculator
Try a classic:
Uses US CPI-U annual averages (Bureau of Labor Statistics) from 1913 to 2025. Results are approximate and in US dollars.
What classic candy cost
| Treat | Price then | In today’s money |
|---|---|---|
| Hershey bar (1955) | 5¢ | $0.60 |
| Bottle of Coke (1950) | 5¢ | $0.67 |
| Tootsie Roll (1940) | 1¢ | $0.23 |
| Bazooka gum (1950) | 1¢ | $0.13 |
| Pack of Wrigley’s gum (1960) | 5¢ | $0.54 |
| Hershey bar (1970) | 10¢ | $0.83 |
Why candy got pricier
For decades a candy bar cost a nickel. Hershey kept its bar at 5¢ from 1921 to 1969 by changing the size of the bar instead of the price, and Coca-Cola held its 5¢ bottle until 1959. Once inflation took off in the 1970s, nickel candy disappeared for good.
This calculator shows what that old price means in today’s money, so you can see whether candy really is more expensive now or whether everything else just caught up.
