The price of an America ticket in 1884

Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti (American Finnish
Journal), September 26, 1884

Some months ago, I published a description of an immigrant's journey from Europe across the Atlantic Ocean to Copper Country in Michigan. Here's some additional info related to that topic. Shipping companies competed passionately for these passengers with their ads, which were a very important source of income for these small immigrant newspapers. It is likely that without these ads the usually very short life span of immigrant newspapers would have been but a bud. Some of the shipping companies announced their fares in advertising, from departing ports to the key destinations in the "New World". As examples, I picked two shipping company Ads from Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti (American Finnish Journal) in late September 1884 and transformed it to today's (2016) price level. The cost of travel from Finland to Stockholm, Gothenburg or Trondheim should be added to 1884 prices, of course.

The Steamboat Line Companies' ticket prices in 1884 are roughly on the same level as today's lowest air ticket prices. So, the price of crossing the Atlantic has been preserved relatively almost the same for over a hundred years. On the other hand, traveling from a Finnish port to the "Finnish regions" in the central parts of the United States took about two weeks while it takes up to half a day now.

The ticket price of American line from Gothenburg or from Trondheim was only $ 18. When we change it to the price of the day, the cost of a journey accumulates to $ 424. A trip from Stockholm to Philadelphia was priced at $ 21, that is in today's money $ 494. If you bought a ticket from Stockholm to Hancock, the price was already $ 37, which is the equivalent of $ 871 in 2016. If you wanted to travel from Stockholm to one of Finns' favorite places in Minnesota, New York Mills, the price already amounted $ 39.70. It makes $ 934, in the 2016 value.

Dominion Line's price level seems to have been more favorable. You could reach Quebec from all Scandinavian ports for 16 dollars or 376 2016 dollars. If you paid $ 27 ($ 635 in today's money), you could reach Chicago. If the lower prices were due to the Dominion line's modestly contents of the package, or only a stricter pricing, I can’t yet tell on the grounds of the source material.