The Scale of Large Projects

Max Olson

May 24, 2018

$100 million +

Midsize commercial airplane — $120m ^
Big budget video game — $150m ^
F-22 Raptor jet — $157m ^
iPhone R&D (2007) — $185m ^
Titanic (1912) — $190m ^
Big budget movie — $250m ^
SpaceX Falcon 9 v1 R&D — $350m ^
Empire State Building (1931) — $400m ^
Modern cruise ship — $750m ^
Hoover Dam (1936) — $863m ^

$1 billion +

Modern sports stadium — $1.3b ^
Modern skyscraper — $1.5b ^
Space Shuttle launch — $1.5b ^
Erie Canal (1825) — $4b ^
Human Genome Project (2003) — $5b ^
Panama Canal (1912) — $9b ^
Hubble Space Telescope (1990) — $9b ^

$10 billion +

Global Positioning System (1989) — $10b ^
Large Hadron Collider (2009) — $13b ^
Great Pyramid of Giza (~2500 BCE) — $20b ^
Three Gorges Dam (2009) — $25b ^
Transcontinental railroad (1863) — $30b ^
Manhattan Project (1945) — $30b ^
F-22 Raptor development (1997) — $42b ^
Great Wall of China (220 BCE) — $50b ^
SR-71 Blackbird development (1964) — $90b ^

$100 billion +

International Space Station — $150b ^
Apollo program (1969) — $200b ^
U.S. Interstate Highway System (~1980) — $500b ^

Many of these numbers are rough estimates. Figures adjusted for inflation after 1900 that weren't already. Any figure before 1900 was adjusted via per capita GDP to more accurately reflect the scale of the undertaking.

If it were possible, the best metric to compare the scale of projects would be something like "Man-years + Value of Raw Materials (possibly in ounces of gold)". This is especially true for projects like the Great Pyramid, the Suez Canal, the Great Wall of China, or the Manhattan Project which used mostly unpaid or low-paid labor.