$100 in 1926 is worth $136 in 1950,
because prices increased 36.2% over that period, an average of
1.29% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$136
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
36.2%
Average inflation rate
1.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$136
Price difference ($100 base)
$36.16
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1926 → 1950
$136
$100 in 1950 → 1926
$73.44
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1950
Between 1926 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 36.2%, which works out to an average of
1.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1950: the 1926 dollar
lost 26.6% of its purchasing power over
these 24 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.36: $1,000 becomes
$1,362, and $10,000 becomes $13,616.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.36
$5.00
$6.81
$10.00
$13.62
$20.00
$27.23
$50.00
$68.08
$100
$136
$500
$681
$1,000
$1,362
$5,000
$6,808
$10,000
$13,616
$100,000
$136,158
$1,000,000
$1,361,582
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1950
Between 1926 and 1950, apparel rose the most, up 55.6%, while food rose the least, up 49.4%, against 36.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.29%
$136
Apparel
1.86%
$156
Food
1.69%
$149
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 to 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1926–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$136
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $79.66 by
1938, on its way to $136 in 1950; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $136; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1950: $100 is worth $136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1950/