I've spent hours with Google and on Wookiepedia searching, but haven't had any luck in finding out what the average citizen in the Empire earns in a day. I'd also like to know what incidentals like what a mug of beer costs in a typical cantina, the cost of a simple breakfast or lunch in a hole-in-the-wall eatery, and the price of a speeder bike rental. Knowing such mundane things will allow me to have a much firmer grasp on what to tell my players when they wish to do things in the game other than shoot at stuff, bribe NPCs, or buy things that have been published in an RPG sourcebook.

Most RPGs tend to put a credit at ~$1 on a core world. For a cannon example, the frog Jar-Jar eats costs 7 wupuipui, which (depending on currency exchange rates) equals about 4.37 credits. Not bad for an amount of meat to serve as the protean for dinner for 2 on a desert colony planet.

Of course, being the Hutt currancy, wupuipui (and truguts and pegats) might be more useful for many EotE characters, in which case each one is about $0.65

The only information I know of in this space is the table “Colonist Pay Scale” on page 93 of the book “Far Horizons”. There are various different types of monthly or daily salaries, etc… listed in that table.

The only information I know of in this space is the table “Colonist Pay Scale” on page 93 of the book “Far Horizons”. There are various different types of monthly or daily salaries, etc… listed in that table.

That's very useful, thanks! I'd forgotten about that table. The last 4 entries (clerk, miner, ranch hand, unskilled laborer) are precisely what I was looking for in regards to average income.

Reading through the novels, the average drink (think mug of lum) seems to be no more than a few credits, and the fancy drinks (such as a spun Fogblaster) top out at ~10. Real world equivalents would probably support the 1 credit per USD. (I don't know exchange rates offhand for other currencies, if you're not US-based)

The more I think about it, the more that 1 cr = 1 USD seems about right. Adjusted of course for whatever currency the player is actually using and where they're trying to spend it.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I did some research as well, and I pegged our SW credit to $1...in 1980. That places average income between 11,500 and 19,500 credits (matching Far Horizons), has an average new car going for 6300 - or a good staring point for a landspeeder, and would put an average hotel room at 45 credits.

Using this, fast food would be 2 credits, average meal 9, with fine dining in the 25 credit neighborhood. That would put drink prices anywhere from one credit for a mug of Lum (in a dive) up to 10 credits in a really fancy club catering to a planet's elite.

I did some research as well, and I pegged our SW credit to $1...in 1980. That places average income between 11,500 and 19,500 credits (matching Far Horizons), has an average new car going for 6300 - or a good staring point for a landspeeder, and would put an average hotel room at 45 credits.

Using this, fast food would be 2 credits, average meal 9, with fine dining in the 25 credit neighborhood. That would put drink prices anywhere from one credit for a mug of Lum (in a dive) up to 10 credits in a really fancy club catering to a planet's elite.

Considering when WEG started pricing items I can easily believe it.

The problem is a lot of Legends material continued to use the ~$1 without adjusting for inflation - hense the 2credit - 10credit drinks, which is modern bar prices.

I could swear one of the WEG supplements had tables with this in it.

Something that has always seemed important to me in Star Wars is the concept of income inequality. In Star Wars, at least as I perceive it, there are the very, very rich and the very, very poor and little in-between.

I've never had the need to get into the actual numbers, but I tend to break it down that in most places you go in Star Wars, you'll find people who make so much that they don't ever need to worry about actual numbers, or people so poor that even a single credit would improve their lot.

Something that has always seemed important to me in Star Wars is the concept of income inequality. In Star Wars, at least as I perceive it, there are the very, very rich and the very, very poor and little in-between.

I've never had the need to get into the actual numbers, but I tend to break it down that in most places you go in Star Wars, you'll find people who make so much that they don't ever need to worry about actual numbers, or people so poor that even a single credit would improve their lot.

There is a fairly solid merchant class in Star Wars as well as a skilled middle-class. Certainly anyone on a small ship's crew would be considered middle-class, though they might be deeply in debt. Merchants and traders at the local level will range from not-quite-poor to pretty-well-off.

Aristocracy will be the extremely rich, but bureaucracy will have a well-paid middle class of middle managers and administrators.

I do agree that most anywhere you go you will find some ultra-rich individuals and some subsistence-level poor. I disagree on the middle ground though, I see a lot of those people in Star Wars.

Unless we count military officers as middle-class we see a lot more criminals than middle-class. The working class can't be doing so well, they have to compete with droid labor and those huge automated factories like the one we saw in Episode 2. Probably one of the main reasons we see so much crime in the galaxy. (The other being, that it's simply a lot easier to get away with something in such a huge place.)

Another factor in the criminal/middle class ratio is the fact that the Empire has made many viable professions and much independent trade illegal. Therefore lots of activity that was simply commerce in the old republic is now considered criminal.

Also a case of Plot Bias. When it comes to Mythic storytelling, middle class people simply are not interesting. They don't do anything - they go to work, make the galaxy run, go home, enjoy their holonet shows, go to bed, repeat. Nothing that's going to show up in the movie.

But who do you think buys the smuggled Deathsticks and Ale? How do you think Dex's Dinner stays in business? Who are all the engineers, overseers, shift leaders, etc. at the Kuat Dock Yards building Star Destroyers?

It's not that the working and middle class are not there, it's just that they're boring.

Another factor in the criminal/middle class ratio is the fact that the Empire has made many viable professions and much independent trade illegal. Therefore lots of activity that was simply commerce in the old republic is now considered criminal.

I actually think it is the other way around. Popular support of The Empire is mostly based on the fact they bring security by cracking down hard on crime. Something the Old Republic was incapable of doing because of all the red tape democratic values and legal procedure brings with it. The Hutts certainly seem to be doing fine back then too. And Han Solo wouldn't be any less of a drug-runner in that era.

Unless we count military officers as middle-class we see a lot more criminals than middle-class. The working class can't be doing so well, they have to compete with droid labor and those huge automated factories like the one we saw in Episode 2. Probably one of the main reasons we see so much crime in the galaxy. (The other being, that it's simply a lot easier to get away with something in such a huge place.)

Well also consider the source, it's not just a matter of boring.

One of the primary themes of the original film was classic archetypes. One of those archetypes is the heroes journey, starting in a terrible wasteland and ending in a lush friendly fertile paradise. Tack on the need for "The Anti-Hero" needing to be picked up (Solo) and you end up with the wasteland also being a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

We see "so much crime" because in three out of the 6 movies George uses that theme and location:

Tatooine to Yavin IV

Tatooine to Endor

Tatooine to Naboo (a slight stretch, but still there)