Nominal vs. inflation-adjusted
Dinner-and-a-movie basket, in 2026 dollars (estimate)Same basket, price at the timeSurvey: reported first-date spend, 2026 dollarsSurvey: planned or expected spend
Hover or tap a point for the exact figures. Download the chart (PNG) · Get the data (CSV)
What changed
- The movie got pricier. One ticket was $0.58 in 1955, about $7.19 in today's money. In 2025 the average ticket was $11.96.
- Restaurant prices outran inflation. The BLS index for eating out rose faster than prices overall, so the dinner half of the date costs more in real terms than it did in 1955.
- Peak dinner-and-a-movie: the basket topped out at $134 in 2026 dollars in 2025.
- First dates got cheaper than the classic. Surveys from 2019 to 2026 put the typical first date at $77 to $93, well under today's dinner-and-a-movie basket.
Help write the 2026 line
Once 10 reader submissions are approved, the 2026 headline switches to the median of FirstDateTab readers and keeps updating. Until then it uses the J.G. Wentworth 2026 survey.
Add your first date (anonymous) Estimate a date in your cityThe data
| Year | What it is | Price at the time | In 2026 dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $0.58 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $6.11 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $7.27 | $90 |
| 1960 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $0.75 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $7.02 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $8.52 | $96 |
| 1965 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $1.01 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $7.85 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $9.87 | $104 |
| 1970 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $1.55 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $10.36 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $13.46 | $115 |
| 1975 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $2.05 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $15.06 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $19.16 | $118 |
| 1980 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $2.69 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $23.05 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $28.43 | $115 |
| 1985 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $3.55 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $29.93 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $37.03 | $114 |
| 1990 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $4.22 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $36.87 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $45.31 | $115 |
| 1995 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $4.35 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $41.18 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $49.88 | $109 |
| 2000 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $5.39 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $46.71 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $57.49 | $111 |
| 2005 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $6.41 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $53.45 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $66.27 | $113 |
| 2010 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $7.89 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $62.49 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $78.27 | $119 |
| 2015 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $8.43 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $70.78 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $87.64 | $123 |
| 2019 | Survey: reported spend Average amount respondents spent on a first date in 2019. Qualtrics online survey of 1,281 US adults, Jan 2020. | $77.00 | $100 |
| 2019 | Survey: planned or expected spend What US adults would expect to spend on a first date. YouGov, 1,221 adults, weighted, March 2019. | $87.00 | $113 |
| 2022 | Survey: planned or expected spend Most daters said they would spend on a first date (average). Qualtrics, 1,578 US consumers, Aug 2022. | $91.00 | $103 |
| 2025 | Estimate: dinner-and-a-movie basket 2 movie tickets at $11.96 (avg US ticket) + dinner for two $105.68 (Zagat 2016 avg scaled by BLS food-away-from-home CPI) | $129.60 | $134 |
| 2026 | Survey: reported spend Average self-reported first-date spend. Online survey of 1,538 US adults, March 2026. | $92.91 | $93 |
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Methodology
- Before 2019, there's no national survey of what a first date cost, so we built a clearly labeled estimate: the classic dinner and a movie. It's two average US movie tickets for that year plus a dinner for two. The dinner is Zagat's 2016 national average, moved back and forward in time with the BLS consumer price index for food away from home. This is the same method 24/7 Wall St. used in 2017, and our numbers match theirs.
- Movie tickets are the theater owners' national average. Its figures before 1989 were themselves estimated from a BLS price index, and 2025 comes from The Numbers.
- Survey points are copied as published. Some asked what people actually spent; others asked what they would spend. The chart marks the difference.
- Inflation uses the BLS CPI-U (all items, US city average) annual averages: value × (CPI 2026 ÷ CPI that year). 2026 dollars use the average of the 9 monthly 2026 CPI-U readings published so far (January to September, index 332.243); the full-year 2026 average isn't out yet, so these figures will shift slightly.
- Estimates and surveys measure different things, so we show them side by side and never blend them.
Sources
- Average US movie ticket price, 1955 to 2015 (National Association of Theatre Owners series, as compiled by 24/7 Wall St.) 247wallst.com
- Average US movie ticket price, 2025 (The Numbers estimate; the theater owners' group stopped publishing its annual figure in 2025) entertainmentindustryreporter.com
- Dinner for two: Zagat's 2016 national average, $72.60 for two (as reported by 24/7 Wall St., who used the same dinner-and-a-movie method) finance.yahoo.com
- BLS Consumer Price Index, food away from home (CUUR0000SEFV), annual averages data.bls.gov
- BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, all items (CUUR0000SA0), annual averages data.bls.gov
- LendingTree survey, 2019: Average amount respondents spent on a first date in 2019. Qualtrics online survey of 1,281 US adults, Jan 2020. lendingtree.com
- Bankrate/YouGov survey, 2019: What US adults would expect to spend on a first date. YouGov, 1,221 adults, weighted, March 2019. bankrate.com
- LendingTree survey, 2022: Most daters said they would spend on a first date (average). Qualtrics, 1,578 US consumers, Aug 2022. lendingtree.com
- J.G. Wentworth survey, 2026: Average self-reported first-date spend. Online survey of 1,538 US adults, March 2026. jgwentworth.com