# What did eyeglasses cost in the early 1960s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515 "2023-07-03T21:11:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/1 "2023-07-03T21:11:09Z")
We are talking single lens for a near-sighted 7 year old. Nothing designer, nothing complicated. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/2 "2023-07-03T21:33:08Z")
I got my first pair of glasses in 1961 at age 12. Actually I got two pair and I think the cost was $40 for both, though that might have been the cost for each. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/3 "2023-07-03T21:35:53Z")
Roughly $400 today ($1 in the early 1960s is around $10 today). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/4 "2023-07-03T21:36:43Z")
I just want to know what they cost back then. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/5 "2023-07-03T21:37:29Z")
Did that include the cost of the exam, do you remember? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/6 "2023-07-03T21:42:19Z")
That’s hard to say, because I’m pretty sure that single-lens glasses were still available in stores the way reading glasses are now. If you were myopic, and your prescription wasn’t too strong, and you could get by with no adjustment for astigmatism, and the same lens for each eye, then you could just get a pair at the drugstore super-cheap. If you wanted nice frames, or anything special, like a different lens for each eye, even if each lens itself was fairly common and easy, or polymer lenses, then you paid a lot more. It would seem to me that being able to wear OTC myopia glasses, and being myopic enough to need glasses isn’t a really high percentage of glasses wearers, and probably people who wore OTC glasses were settling for for something that sorta worked, and was just better than nothing. So this may be comparing an apple to something that is very difficult to compare to an apple. Still, it’s kinda like asking what bread cost in an era when everything was cheaper, but factory bread weren’t that commonly bought, and bakery breads were. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/7 "2023-07-03T21:55:21Z")
I found this link pertaining to 1966: [City Worker’s Family Budget Pricing, Procedures, Specifications, and Average Prices: Autumn 1966 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 1570-3 - Page 28 | Title | FRASER | St. Louis Fed (stlouisfed.org)](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/city-worker-s-family-budget-pricing-procedures-specifications-average-prices-autumn-1966-4946?start_page=28&fbclid=IwAR3CvoNrGeDzEEtWJAw9m0zM8mNtujTACUCxRdXVZ9H2Lb8TagJphLxP_vw) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/8 "2023-07-03T22:03:13Z")
$22.99 for the glasses. $12.94 for the exam. Even cheaper in New York. > **[City Worker's Family Budget Pricing, Procedures, Specifications, and Average...](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/city-worker-s-family-budget-pricing-procedures-specifications-average-prices-autumn-1966-4946?start_page=28)** > > City Worker's Family Budget Pricing, Procedures, Specifications, and Average Prices: Autumn 1966 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 1570-3 by United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics ETA: Ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/9 "2023-07-03T22:21:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Did that include the cost of the exam, do you remember? No it wouldn’t have as I went to a ophthalmologist to see my eyes as I’m blind in one eye. And my main problem, other than that, is astigmatism so I could not use simple store bought glasses. ---
**Author:** ![sb1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@sb1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sb1953)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/10 "2023-07-24T18:17:14Z")
My Father practiced Optometry (O.D.) from 1949 to 1973 I recall that an eye exam in the early 60’s was $12. The Eye Dr. in my building charges $275 today but he is an Ophthalmologist. I believe that an O.D. eye exam runs about half that today ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/11 "2023-07-24T18:25:29Z")
Our vision “insurance” pays $60 for an eye exam, but this doesn’t cover some “cutting edge” technology that enables them to scan your retina without dilating your pupils (and rendering you unable to drive temporarily). That’s an extra $35 payable to the optometrist. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-eyeglasses-cost-in-the-early-1960s/986515/12 "2023-07-25T00:02:41Z")
I got a pair of wire-rimmed glasses for about $20 (exam included) when I was in HS, say in 1952. They were the only glasses I had for 50 years (although I eventually had to take them off to read).