Living in the middle of Manhattan. With a full time maid. And both kids in private school. Well, I was three years old when this movie was made, and that sounds about right for the time. My dad bought his brand new cars for a couple hundred dollars back then. And rent on our large, big city apartment was $50 month. All utilities included.
shareI asked my mother about salaries in the 40s 50s 60s -- she claims that by 1962 my father who was employed at IBM as an an engineer (with college degree, military service and 5 kids) made roughly $10,000/yr. She remembers because to break the "five figure" amount was a big event. So I'm guessing that $15,000/yr. in 1947 was above average and a pretty good salary. But the film surely makes it seem like they were barely keeping their heads above water. But they had private tuitions plus had a live in maid. However my parent's quite nice 2 bathroom 4 bdrm house in 1966 cost $18,000 (outside of Va. About 50 mi from DC but i dont know if that was considered average). My grandparents house for ex in 1934 cost $4,500. Today it sells for about $800,000. Just bringing this in discussion to put the prices in this movie in perspective -- if they were above middle class or not.
shareYour dad paid more than a couple of hundred bucks for a new car in the late 1940s. Even the most utilitarian, stripped-down pickup truck or station wagon cost close to a thousand at that time.
According to the Consumer Price Index calculator of the Federal Reserve Bank, $15,000.00 in 1948 is the equivalent of $156,237.00 today (2018).