$100 in 1950 is worth $124 in 1961,
because prices increased 24.1% over that period, an average of
1.98% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$124
in 1961
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
24.1%
Average inflation rate
1.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$124
Price difference ($100 base)
$24.07
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1961
29.9
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
$100 in 1950 → 1961
$124
$100 in 1961 → 1950
$80.60
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1961
Between 1950 and 1961, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 29.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 24.1%, which works out to an average of
1.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.81 buys in 1961: the 1950 dollar
lost 19.4% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 1961 at the same ratio, 1.24: $1,000 becomes
$1,241, and $10,000 becomes $12,407.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1961
$1.00
$1.24
$5.00
$6.20
$10.00
$12.41
$20.00
$24.81
$50.00
$62.03
$100
$124
$500
$620
$1,000
$1,241
$5,000
$6,203
$10,000
$12,407
$100,000
$124,066
$1,000,000
$1,240,664
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1961
Between 1950 and 1961, medical care rose the most, up 51.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 14.4%, against 24.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1961, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.98%
$124
Medical care
3.86%
$152
Transportation
2.60%
$133
Food
1.65%
$120
Apparel
1.23%
$114
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–).
Decade by decade: 1950 to 1961
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 2.08% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.01% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1961 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1950, at end
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$123
1960–1961
1.01%
1.0%
$124
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $111 by
1955, on its way to $124 in 1961; 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 1961, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $124; the year's average CPI of 29.9 is the level
behind every 1961 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1961: $100 is worth $124 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1961/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1961. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1961/