It currently takes over one year of full-time work for the average US worker to earn enough money to buy one BTC. But this wasn’t always the case
Below is a chart of pre-tax and pre-living expense calculations, assuming an average US private sector employee working full-time using all wages to buy BTC
As lofty and unattainable as today’s BTC cost is, it’s actually cheaper on a wage basis than it was at its peak in July 2025
That month, the average price of BTC was $115,101, equating to 394 full-time working days or 1.6 years for the average US employee
The price of BTC denominated in average US wages has actually been declining from its 1.6 year peak in July 2025
Protos built this chart using wage averages from private sector employee pay rates per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Data starts on October 12, 2009, when New Liberty Standard paid Martti Malmi $5.02 for 5,050 BTC, the first sale of BTC for US dollars. Prior to this date — and for more than a year afterward — the price of BTC remained trivial or free
Since 2009, BTC has rallied from sub-pennies to a luxury expense worth several years of post-tax, post-living expense savings
