$100 in 1933 is worth $185 in 1950,
because prices increased 85.4% over that period, an average of
3.70% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$185
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
85.4%
Average inflation rate
3.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$185
Price difference ($100 base)
$85.38
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1933 → 1950
$185
$100 in 1950 → 1933
$53.94
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1950
Between 1933 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 85.4%, which works out to an average of
3.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1950: the 1933 dollar
lost 46.1% of its purchasing power over
these 17 years.
Consumer prices fell 5.1% in 1933, a smaller decline than 1932’s
but enough to complete a four-year slide of 24.0% from the 1929
peak. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the trough of that
contraction to March 1933, closing out the longest downturn in its
chronology, one that had run 43 months since August 1929. The bottom
arrived alongside a change in government: Franklin D. Roosevelt was
inaugurated March 4 and, within 48 hours, ordered every bank in the country
closed to halt a fresh round of runs. Congress passed the Emergency Banking
Act on March 9, letting solvent banks reopen under federal supervision, and
the panic that had been building for months broke almost immediately. The
administration moved on the currency next: Executive Order 6102, issued
April 5, required Americans to turn in most gold coin, bullion, and
certificates to the Federal Reserve, taking the country off the domestic
gold standard (formal devaluation of the dollar followed the next January).
Congress capped the year’s banking overhaul in June with the Banking Act of
1933, commonly called Glass-Steagall, which created the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation and separated commercial banking from investment
banking. Even after four straight years of falling prices, the CPI still
stood 31.3% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
Every 1933 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.85: $1,000 becomes
$1,854, and $10,000 becomes $18,538.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.85
$5.00
$9.27
$10.00
$18.54
$20.00
$37.08
$50.00
$92.69
$100
$185
$500
$927
$1,000
$1,854
$5,000
$9,269
$10,000
$18,538
$100,000
$185,385
$1,000,000
$1,853,846
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1950
Between 1933 and 1950, food rose the most, up 144.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 114.4%, against 85.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.70%
$185
Food
5.39%
$244
Apparel
4.59%
$214
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1933: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1933 to 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (1.06% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1933–1950 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1933, at end
1933–1940
1.06%
7.7%
$108
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$185
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $113 by
1941, on its way to $185 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 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1933 had the buying
power of $185; 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 1933 to 1950: $100 is worth $185 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1950/