Transportation Lodging Fees Food Souvenirs Other 1901 Costs
Salaries in 1901
| In 1901, there are only 4,000 millionaires in the world, an unknown number of whom live in Buffalo. Although the records show that unions in Buffalo are flexing their "muscle", only 4.3% of the American workforce are unionized. Of those women who work at a paying job, half are farmhands or domestic servants. Most people work six days per week for 9 hours a day. They have no retirement benefits which means they work until they have saved enough money to stop working, or they work until they die. (The average life expectancy for men is 47 years, for women it is 50.) They pay no income tax. There is no health insurance. The vast majority of Buffalonians get around town by walking, bicycling, or taking the trolley cars. Well-to-do people own horses and a buggy or two; anyone can rent a horse and buggy for an occasion, with or without a driver. People visiting relatives in the country or taking a trip travel by train. |
|
Occupation
|
Annual Salary
|
2000 $
|
| 1900 Census Average Salary |
$449.80
|
$8,973
|
| Unskilled Female |
$120
|
$2,394
|
| African-American male laborer |
$150
|
$2,992
|
| African-American Female laundress |
$180
|
$3,591
|
| Nurses after two years |
$193
|
$3,850
|
| Factory women (Boston) |
$295.44
|
$5,885
|
| Retail Women (Boston) |
$303.84
|
$6,045
|
| National average female teachers |
$381.50
|
$7,601
|
| Lynn, MA factory seamstresses |
$384
|
$7,660
|
| Male Stenographer |
$400
|
$7,980
|
| Eden, NY Union Free School female teacher |
$400
|
$7,980
|
| National average male teachers |
$452
|
$9,017
|
| Nurse Supervisors |
$463
|
$9,237
|
| Western U.S. female teachers |
$505
|
$10,074
|
| Buffalo Railway Company trolley conductors |
$533
|
$10,663
|
| NYC Female teachers |
$600
|
$11,970
|
| Buffalo teacher after 4 years |
$600
|
$11,970
|
| Western U.S. male teachers |
$610
|
$12,169
|
| Buffalo NY factory planers |
$624
|
$12,449
|
| Buffalo School "department principal" |
$750
|
$14,902
|
| NYC male teachers |
$900
|
$17,955
|
Pan-American Workers Salaries (shown here in weekly wages because of the short-term nature of Exposition work).
|
Job Category
|
Weekly Salary
|
2000 $
|
| Ticket Takers |
$15
|
$299
|
| Pan-American Police |
$45
|
$898
|
| Carpenters (8-hour day) |
$55 - $65
|
$1,097 - $1,276
|
| Plumbers |
$60 - $70
|
$1197 - $1,396
|
| Electricians |
$60
|
$1,197
|
| Plasterers |
$80
|
$1,596
|
| Modelers |
$119
|
$2,374
|