12 BULLETIN 1214, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
TABLE 3.—Average cost of clothing for persons of different age and sex, in 402 farm 
families in Livingston County, N. Y. 
Males. Females. 
Age group. 
ahaaey,' Number Number 
of per- Cost. of per- Cost. 
sons. sons. 
Dollars Dollars. 
Operators and homemakers 7272. AN. Se AS AES 393 6 
Children: 
SSVPATS OY NOSS 2 ic $5.9 5tao ede eee ees ee a eee 68 26 63 23 
Ob tO/S years. -22 555532. SCREL DERE ISTE AR AOD FESTA DS EES, 75 40 51 37 
MOLE, YORI SS. Sec Poet il de wri ee Eh ie ee i Tee es 75 56 83 47 
ASiUOWO"VOaLSes Sect se eee ee eee ete eee al 82 65 76 
Nf 60.20 yearsss. 2602. tes SY. operas Be este cee - Serceed: 57 111 52 112 
PALUO Ze VORlS cc on 0 et cece ee ae ae oe ene 29 124 20 130 
20 Yoats and overt- SSS Ll Rs. ah EE ee ee 44 92 25 79 
Some of the more noteworthy points brought out by Table 3 are 
that sex made practically no difference in the cost of clothing either 
among the heads of families or among children less than 8 years old; 
that for both boys and girls the cost of clothing increases rapidly 
from the age of 17 on, until between the ages of 21 and 24, inclusive, it 
is almost twice that of their parents; and that the cost of clothing for 
irls averages very slightly higher than that for boys when they are 
in the late teens and early twenties. The average cost for both males 
and females over 16 years of age is $107. 
It is interesting to compare these findings with those obtained by 
the United States Department of Labor in a study of the quantity 
and cost of clothing purchased by the average workingman’s family 
in 1918.7. Although the age groupings are not the same in the two 
studies, the general trend of costs is sunmilar. In the 12,094 indus- 
trial families, however, the clothing of the wife appears to cost about 
$64, or about $7 less than that of the husband for whom the cost is 
about $71; while for girls over 15 the cost is about $97 and for boys 
in the same age group about $82. The average expenditure for 
clothing in all the industrial families studied was $237 § as against 
$277 in the Livingston County farm families, but this may be partly 
due to differences in price levels at the dates of the studies. Figures 
showing the cost of clothing in farm families are included in a study 
in St. Joseph County, Mich., in 1917,° and one in Groton, N. Y., in 
1920.° The average size of the three sets of families is similar. 
Even when allowance is made for the prices prevalent in 1921, expend- 
iture for clothing appears highest among the Livingston County 
families. 
The schedules for the present study show the number and cost of 
the more important kinds of garments provided for different individ-— 
uals, but this material still awaits analysis. 
7 Quantity and cost of clothing purchased by average workingman’s family in one year. U.S. Dept. 
Labor, Bur. Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Rev., Vol. 15, No.3, 1922, 
8 Cost of living in the United States. U.S. Dept. Labor, Bur. Labor Statistics. Monthly Labor Rev., 
Vol. 9, No. 2, p. 118. 1919. : 
9 A survey of farm homes. I. M. Bailey and M. F. Snyder. Jour. Home Econ., Vol. 13, No. 8, p. 346- 
356. 1921. 
10 Cost of living in a small factory town. C. V. Noble. Thesis for degree of Ph. D., Cornell University. 
(Unpublished.) 1920, 
ee OO eee es 
