How Much Did the First Light Bulb Cost?

By Staff WriterLast Updated March 24, 2020

The first commercially available light bulb cost $1 in 1881, which was three years after Thomas Edison developed the first practical incandescent light bulb. The Seattle Times reveals the $1 price in 1881 translates to $23 in 2013. By 1910, the cost of a light bulb dropped to 17 cents.

Edison created the Edison Electric Light Company in 1880 to market his new invention. By 1910, longer-lasting tungsten filaments made light bulbs cheaper. Compact fluorescent lights (CFL) saw similar declines in price from the 1980s to 2013. The first models in the mid-1980s each cost between $25 to $35 before going down in price to $1.74 apiece in 2013.