What was the economy like in the 1950's. More specifically, what was the cost of living, and also what was the average wages and salary? |

First of all, please realize that the cost of living would have varied from place to place so we cannot say exactly what the cost of living was.

However, we can say that $1 in 1950 money was roughly equivalent to $8.50 today, which means that you could buy the same amount with 12 cents back then that you can buy for $1 today.

By 1960, a dollar was worth about $6.90 in today's money.  So that shows you that the cost of living went up over the course of that decade.

It is also hard to talk about average wages, but one estimate says that the average yearly wage in the 1950s was a bit under $3000.  That would be roughly equivalent to $23,000 in today's money.