$100 in 1950 is worth $111 in 1953,
because prices increased 10.8% over that period, an average of
3.47% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$111
in 1953
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
10.8%
Average inflation rate
3.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$111
Price difference ($100 base)
$10.79
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1953
26.7
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
$100 in 1950 → 1953
$111
$100 in 1953 → 1950
$90.26
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1953
Between 1950 and 1953, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 26.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 10.8%, which works out to an average of
3.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.90 buys in 1953: the 1950 dollar
lost 9.7% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
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.
Every 1950 amount converts to 1953 at the same ratio, 1.11: $1,000 becomes
$1,108, and $10,000 becomes $11,079.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1953
$1.00
$1.11
$5.00
$5.54
$10.00
$11.08
$20.00
$22.16
$50.00
$55.39
$100
$111
$500
$554
$1,000
$1,108
$5,000
$5,539
$10,000
$11,079
$100,000
$110,788
$1,000,000
$1,107,884
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1953
Between 1950 and 1953, transportation rose the most, up 16.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 6.9%, against 10.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1953, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.47%
$111
Transportation
5.29%
$117
Medical care
4.64%
$115
Food
3.67%
$111
Apparel
2.26%
$107
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1950: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $108 by
1951, on its way to $111 in 1953; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 7.9% in 1951, and the smallest rise was 0.8% in 1953.
In 1953, prices rose 0.8% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $111; the year's average CPI of 26.7 is the level
behind every 1953 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% in 1953, down from 1952’s 1.9% as
fighting in Korea wound toward a truce and three years of wartime buying
pressure finally eased. The year’s biggest shock came from Moscow: Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin died March 5 after nearly three decades in power, the
first change of Soviet leadership since the 1920s, opening a period of
uncertainty over how his successors would deal with the West. Washington
used the calmer backdrop to unwind its own wartime machinery. Authority
for the price and wage controls imposed in 1951 lapsed that spring, as the
Eisenhower administration, which favored free markets over controls, wound
down the Office of Price Stabilization. The war itself ended, on paper,
that July: negotiators signed an armistice July 27 at Panmunjom, halting
the fighting roughly along the original border near the 38th parallel. No
formal peace treaty ever followed, and North and South Korea remain
technically at war. Consumer prices finished 1953 169.7% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1953: $100 is worth $111 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1953/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1953. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1953/