$100 in 1950 is worth $120 in 1958,
because prices increased 19.9% over that period, an average of
2.30% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$120
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
19.9%
Average inflation rate
2.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$120
Price difference ($100 base)
$19.92
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1950 → 1958
$120
$100 in 1958 → 1950
$83.39
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1958
Between 1950 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 19.9%, which works out to an average of
2.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.83 buys in 1958: the 1950 dollar
lost 16.6% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 1958 at the same ratio, 1.20: $1,000 becomes
$1,199, and $10,000 becomes $11,992.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1958
$1.00
$1.20
$5.00
$6.00
$10.00
$11.99
$20.00
$23.98
$50.00
$59.96
$100
$120
$500
$600
$1,000
$1,199
$5,000
$5,996
$10,000
$11,992
$100,000
$119,917
$1,000,000
$1,199,170
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1958
Between 1950 and 1958, medical care rose the most, up 36.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 10.7%, against 19.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.30%
$120
Medical care
3.96%
$136
Transportation
2.93%
$126
Food
2.19%
$119
Apparel
1.28%
$111
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 $112 by
1954, on its way to $120 in 1958; 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 1958, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $120; the year's average CPI of 28.9 is the level
behind every 1958 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in 1958, down only slightly from
1957’s 3.3% even as the country sank into the sharpest
postwar recession to that point, an early sign that inflation and a
shrinking economy could coexist rather than trade off against each other.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the downturn’s trough to
that April, with unemployment peaking near 7.5% that summer, the worst
reading since the 1930s. The Post Office raised first-class postage to 4
cents that August 1, up from 3 cents, the rate’s first change since 1932.
Washington answered the Soviet Union’s technological lead that summer
too: Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29,
establishing NASA, which opened for business that October 1 to compete
with the Soviet space program after the shock of Sputnik the year before.
Consumer prices finished 1958 191.9% above their 1913
level. The minimum wage held at $1.00 an hour, and first-class postage
rose to 4 cents that August, the first increase since 1932.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1958: $100 is worth $120 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1958/