How do I work out a cost of living for historical time periods?
I would use rents as a proportion of income, food, some basket of entertainment goods, try to get an idea of relative medical care if possible, transportation. I would also look at the percent employed in various industries: it is likely that still a large fraction worked on farms, and find out if people owned their own farms A farmer has a whole different conception of the ‘cost of living’ than someone in the city who is dependent on manufacturing. It is likely that in a good year a farmer who owns his own farm is in a much better position than a city dweller (where the streets were used as a sewage system, and horses were the dominant form of transportation).
