I think I paid $4-$6 for the last couple pair. The second hand stores around here are great.
I pay around 200. My husband also wears jeans that cost that much. Brands like citizens of humanity diesel hudson kasil. Whatever they have at Nordstroms.
I have been wearing the Gap “1969 long and lean” jeans for years now and the ones I get (a dark wash always) are $70 plus shipping. I have to get the x-long length (hence my choice of these jeans). I try to buy when I get a gift card or there is a sale.
I have probably 5 pairs of them right now in varying states of wear, making them different shades. I always try to have 2 that are DARK as I like a good dark wash.
I could probably afford to spend more on jeans now that I have been in the corporate world for a few years now and cannot wear jeans, and therefore only wear them on weekends, so I have been wearing them out extremely slowly compared to before. I used to have to buy a few pairs a year but I can’t remember now the last time I bought any.
But those Gap ones fit me so well I haven’t had much incentive to look elsewhere - I literally just go online and order up a “fresh pair” when I need one. If they change the style or stop selling them, that is probably when I will find something else. I used to wear Limited jeans and Express jeans, but either I got taller or they changed the fit, and they were not long enough anymore. Then I found out that Gap sells 36" online.
I live in jeans during long pants weather. Usually, I go to the Lane Bryant outlet and catch them on sale for under $40. Sometimes, I’ll get lucky and find them at Goodwill or another thrift shop for ~$7.
I winced a bit recently when I forked over $120 for a pair of jeans, but they fit perfectly and since then I’ve bought another two pair of the same in different washes. I also have some great Goodwill jeans that I really love. I admire people who track sales but I just don’t have the time or energy for doing that.
I got my last pair on sale for $30 which I thought was a good price. I’ll generally pay up to $60.
Levis RRP is around $120 here ($130 for 501s). Understandable half a decade ago when our dollar was buying 58c US, harder to stomach now that $1AU buys $1.04US 
Another skirts only person here. I’m very skinny with no butt and it’s hard to find pants that fit right and don’t look stupid, so I don’t. With skirts, you can ballpark a length and get a drawstring or elastic waistband without looking too dumb.
The last pair of jeans I bought, however, was 2 years ago from Express. I think they were around $80.
I only wear Levi’s 515 jeans. They always fit me just right. If I’m lucky I’ll find my size for used blue ones on eBay, they’re usually around $20. For work I have to wear black jeans that aren’t worn or faded; I buy them new on the Levi’s website for around $50 a pair. I look up coupon codes to find free shipping, or buy enough pairs that the shipping is free when they offer it.
In my life, my size has fluctuated too much to ever justify buying expensive jeans. Once I bought a $50 pair… I still have them just in case I lose 20 pounds, but I’m not hopeful. I don’t buy jeans often, but when I do, they’re cheap ones.
I found a pair at a thrift shop that fit to a T. Since then, I’ve bought 4 more pairs from e-bay, usually for less than $10 plus shipping.
StG
Those who pay $100-200 or even more for a pair of jeans, a serious question: Do they really fit that much better? Even if they did, I would look like a doofus at my age in some of these fashion-design jeans, but even if I didn’t, would I really find they fit better?
EDIT: I’m well known for shunning public polls, but since it’s twickster, I’ve made an exception. 
I think it’s just as likely that for some people the $5 pair is a better fit, but that’s never been true for me except for lucky thrift finds. I will say that my $120 JCrew toothpicks fit much much better than any pair of $70 Gap or $20 Old Navy jeans I’ve tried on in my long history of shopping.
Whatever fits well that’s on sale or clearance from Levi’s, Lee, Wangler or Old Navy at the outlet; always on sale, never paid over $35. Right now I’m down to two pair and one’s pretty well worn, gotta shop again soon.
Fancy designers would get restraining orders against their jeans being associated with my fundament
For me, yes, very much so. I have a slim body with wide hips, and I look for jeans that are very well fitted on the curve between the hip and waist. Cheaper jeans tend to be produced in a straighter silhouette, meaning that if the jeans fit my hips, they are probably going to be a couple sizes too big and baggy everywhere else. It takes a lot of care to find a pair that buttons up without gapping while still hugging my butt and staying close to the thighs. I’m sure somewhere out there on this planet there is a $25.00 pair of jeans that can do just that, but the amount of time and frustration it would take to find those jeans would be far, far more than it’s worth to me.
I also appreciate that nicer jeans stores will hem your jeans while maintaining the normal jeans hem- they will cut off the little rolled part on the end, shorten the jeans, and sew it back on to make it look like they did off the rack. I usually need an inch or two off my jeans, and it’s a nice touch to have a standard hem.
For men, I think things are probably more simple unless you have an unusual body, as men’s jeans are less closely fitted.
I’m a cheap college kid. My current inventory is 2 Old Navy jeans from clearance, 3 Delia’s jeans from clearance, 1 thrift store find and 2 hand-me-downs from my sister. I love what even sven said above about pricier stores hemming jeans for you, though: I’ve found regular length jeans that’d be a steal, but they’re too long, so with the cost of hemming-that-doesn’t-look-terrible, I just wait for sales on petite pairs.
Other: it depends on what the jeans are for.
I have one nice pair of jeans that I wear when I am going out and am wanting to be “dressy” but in jeans. I probably paid around $100 for them. They fit perfectly and are very cute.
That being said, I spent $3 and $6 on my last two pairs of jeans at the thrift store. The $3 pair is for working with the dogs, yard work or helping on my friends sheep ranch. The other pair is just for kicking around in. Both are brand name jeans, but the $3 is pretty faded and looks worn. The $6 is much nicer, but nothing fancy.
Huh. Seems to have changed to non-public. Or was it just the drugs?
Just the drugs.
Some of them do, some of them don’t. Similarly, some of them are very well-made, and last a long time, while others aren’t. I don’t buy expensive jeans that I don’t think fit me extremely well, and I don’t buy expensive jeans that I don’t love the look of (also, I don’t buy extreme, distressed, etc. designs - I’m definitely too old for that). But I’m not going to claim that it’s impossible to find cheaper jeans that would fit well.
Honestly, a lot of it for me is the shopping experience too. Yes, I could spend a lot of time going through jeans at a thrift store and probably find a few pair that fit well that I like. Or I can walk into Nordstrom or Nieman Marcus, go to the sales person I always go to, and in 5 minutes she’ll bring me ten pair that are right up my alley. I try them on, pick the ones I want, and am done in 15-20 minutes. And if I want more, I can call her up and have them shipped or swing by the next day to pick them up.
The truth is, financially it doesn’t really make a significant impact on me whether I spend $20 or $200 on my jeans. So I’m happy to spend more for a combination of good fit, looks I like and comfortable shopping experience. I wouldn’t say that if $200 is a big financial hardship for you, that those jeans are worth breaking the bank over. But if you can afford it comfortably, I do think it’s worth giving a shot.
Mine fit better, look better, and age better than practically every pair of jeans you’d buy for less. I don’t wear “fashion” jeans that have goofy arcuates on the back pockets or weird fades, and there’s very little beyond the exceptional fit that would suggest to an outside observer that they cost hundreds of dollars, unless said observer was familiar with selvage detailing.