$100 in 1950 is worth $117 in 1957,
because prices increased 16.6% over that period, an average of
2.22% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$117
in 1957
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
16.6%
Average inflation rate
2.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$117
Price difference ($100 base)
$16.60
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1957
28.1
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
$100 in 1950 → 1957
$117
$100 in 1957 → 1950
$85.77
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1957
Between 1950 and 1957, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 28.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 16.6%, which works out to an average of
2.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.86 buys in 1957: the 1950 dollar
lost 14.2% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1957 at the same ratio, 1.17: $1,000 becomes
$1,166, and $10,000 becomes $11,660.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1957
$1.00
$1.17
$5.00
$5.83
$10.00
$11.66
$20.00
$23.32
$50.00
$58.30
$100
$117
$500
$583
$1,000
$1,166
$5,000
$5,830
$10,000
$11,660
$100,000
$116,598
$1,000,000
$1,165,975
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1957
Between 1950 and 1957, medical care rose the most, up 30.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 10.4%, against 16.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1957, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.22%
$117
Medical care
3.87%
$130
Transportation
2.88%
$122
Food
1.86%
$114
Apparel
1.43%
$110
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 $111 by
1953, on its way to $117 in 1957; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1957, prices rose 3.3% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $117; the year's average CPI of 28.1 is the level
behind every 1957 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 3.3% in 1957, up from 1956’s 1.5% and
the sharpest increase since the Korean War price surge of 1951. The jump
fed a growing debate among economists over “cost-push” inflation, prices
climbing from rising wages and material costs rather than excess demand,
a debate that would recur for the next quarter century. The Federal
Reserve tightened policy to fight it, and by August the tighter money
combined with falling business investment to tip the economy into a
recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating. The Cold War took a technological turn that October, when the
Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, on the
4th, stunning the American public and setting off both the Space Race and
a surge in federal science and defense spending the following year. Civil
rights reached a crisis that September in Little Rock, Arkansas: after
Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block nine Black
students from Central High School, Eisenhower federalized the Guard and
sent the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the Supreme Court’s
desegregation order. Consumer prices finished 1957 183.8% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at $1.00 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1957: $100 is worth $117 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1957/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1957. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1957/