$100 in 1950 is worth $127 in 1963,
because prices increased 27.0% over that period, an average of
1.85% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$127
in 1963
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
27.0%
Average inflation rate
1.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$127
Price difference ($100 base)
$26.97
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1963
30.6
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
$100 in 1950 → 1963
$127
$100 in 1963 → 1950
$78.76
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1963
Between 1950 and 1963, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 30.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 27.0%, which works out to an average of
1.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.79 buys in 1963: the 1950 dollar
lost 21.2% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 1963 at the same ratio, 1.27: $1,000 becomes
$1,270, and $10,000 becomes $12,697.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1963
$1.00
$1.27
$5.00
$6.35
$10.00
$12.70
$20.00
$25.39
$50.00
$63.49
$100
$127
$500
$635
$1,000
$1,270
$5,000
$6,349
$10,000
$12,697
$100,000
$126,971
$1,000,000
$1,269,710
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1963
Between 1950 and 1963, medical care rose the most, up 59.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 16.4%, against 27.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1963, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.85%
$127
Medical care
3.66%
$160
Transportation
2.40%
$136
Food
1.57%
$122
Apparel
1.17%
$116
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 1963
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 2.08% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.11% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1963 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1950, at end
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$123
1960–1963
1.11%
3.4%
$127
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $113 by
1956, on its way to $127 in 1963; 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 1963, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $127; the year's average CPI of 30.6 is the level
behind every 1963 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1963, up slightly from 1962’s
1.0% as the expansion entered its third year with inflation still low,
conditions that gave Kennedy room to push the large tax cut he had
proposed to Congress. The cost of a first-class stamp rose that January
7, to 5 cents from 4 cents, the first postal rate change since 1958. That
August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a quarter million people
gathered for the March on Washington, building pressure on Congress to
pass the civil rights bill Kennedy had proposed that June. The year ended
in tragedy: Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through
Dallas on November 22, and Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force
One that same afternoon. Johnson would spend the following year pushing
Kennedy’s stalled tax and civil rights agenda through Congress. The
minimum wage rose again that September, to $1.25 an hour, the second step
of the phased increase set two years earlier. Consumer prices finished
1963 209.1% above their 1913 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1963: $100 is worth $127 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1963/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1963. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1963/