Stamp Price History: Every US First-Class Letter Rate Since 1885

The short answer: 2 cents in 1885, 82 cents in 2026#

A First-Class stamp for a one-ounce US letter cost 2 cents in July 1885 and costs $0.82 as of July 12, 2026. Since 1885 the rate has changed 38 times, and only two of those changes were cuts, in 1919 and 2016.

The table below lists every change to the one-ounce letter rate since 1885, from the USPS Historian's record of domestic letter rates (opens in new tab). After it: how to find the price on any date, the patterns in 141 years of prices, why the price keeps going up, and when Forever stamps began.

Every US First-Class stamp price since 1885#

Rates are in cents for the first ounce of a domestic letter, at the price charged at the time. Before July 1885, letters were priced per half ounce: 3 cents from 1863 and 2 cents from 1883. Each rate applied from its effective date through its "In effect until" date, the day before the next change.

How to find what a stamp cost on any date#

The table lists the dates the price changed, not every year. To find the price on a date, such as the day you were born, find the last change on or before that date.

For example, to find what a stamp cost in 2000: the last change before 2000 was January 10, 1999, when the rate became 33 cents, and the next change was not until January 7, 2001. So a stamp cost 33 cents for all of 2000.

If a change took effect after January 1 of the year you are checking, that year had more than one price, so check the month. In 1981, 2023 and 2024 the rate changed twice, so each of those years had three prices.

These are the prices people paid at the time. The USPS table does not adjust them for inflation, and neither does this one. For a sense of scale, the 3-cent rate of July 1932 equals about 74 cents in August 2026 prices, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator (opens in new tab). In real terms, the 3-cent stamp of 1932 cost nearly as much as the 82-cent rate set in July 2026.

Long plateaus, two price cuts and a faster climb since 2019#

Long plateaus, then a staircase. The 2-cent rate held from 1885 to 1932, apart from a 20-month return to 3 cents from November 1917 to July 1919. The 3-cent rate set in 1932 lasted 26 years. Then the plateaus shortened: 4 cents lasted about four and a half years, 5 cents lasted exactly five, and since 1971 no rate has lasted much more than four years.

Two cuts since the per-ounce rate began in 1885. The rate fell from 3 cents to 2 on July 1, 1919, and from 49 cents to 47 on April 10, 2016. USPS did not choose the 2016 cut. It had won approval for a temporary surcharge above its normal price cap, citing the Great Recession's effect on mail volume, and a Postal Regulatory Commission order required the surcharge to end once it had raised a set amount (USPS, February 25, 2016 (opens in new tab)). The rate went back to 49 cents nine months later.

A faster climb since 2019. From the 55-cent rate of January 2019 to the 82-cent rate of July 2026 is eight changes in seven and a half years, a 27-cent rise. That is more than the entire rise from 1971 to 1991, when the rate went from 8 cents to 29. In 2023 and 2024 the price rose twice a year, in January and July. In 2025 and 2026 it rose once, each July.

Why stamp prices keep going up#

When it filed the July 2026 prices, USPS said it "generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations," and cited "continued rising operational costs" (USPS, April 9, 2026 (opens in new tab)). So rising costs show up in postage prices, within limits set by regulators. The Postal Service's governors approve each price change, and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) reviews it before it takes effect. Three rules shape how far and how often the price moves:

• Inflation sets the baseline. By law, prices for First-Class Mail and other mailing services are capped at the rate of inflation, measured by the consumer price index (USPS, February 25, 2016 (opens in new tab)).
• Extra authority added in 2020. The PRC kept the inflation-based cap but gave USPS additional pricing authority for costs it called "outside of its control": required retirement payments and falling mail density, meaning less mail per address, so the same routes and carriers cost more per piece (PRC, November 30, 2020 (opens in new tab)). That lets increases go beyond inflation.
• One increase a year through fiscal 2030. A PRC rule restricts USPS from raising prices for "Market Dominant" mail, which includes First-Class Mail, above a minimal threshold more than once per fiscal year, from March 1, 2026, through September 30, 2030 (Federal Register, January 16, 2026 (opens in new tab)).

When Forever stamps started, and what they mean for your stamps#

The first Forever stamp went on sale on April 12, 2007, at 41 cents, a month before the 41-cent rate took effect on May 14, 2007 (USPS Postal Facts (opens in new tab); Postal Bulletin, 2007 (opens in new tab)). Before it, every stamp had a fixed value, so each price increase left the stamps in your drawer short of the new rate.

A Forever stamp has no printed price. USPS says it "will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price" (USPS stamp basics (opens in new tab)), so a Forever stamp bought for 41 cents in 2007 still mails a one-ounce letter at the current rate. Stamps with a printed price are still worth that amount; the guide to whether Forever stamps expire explains how to use older stamps.

For the rest of today's First-Class prices, including metered letters, postcards and extra ounces, see the First-Class Mail rates guide or the USPS rates page. If you are mailing something now, you can price a specific letter by weight, size and stamps needed.