$100 in 1950 is worth $131 in 1965,
because prices increased 30.7% over that period, an average of
1.80% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$131
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
30.7%
Average inflation rate
1.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$131
Price difference ($100 base)
$30.71
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1950 → 1965
$131
$100 in 1965 → 1950
$76.51
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1965
Between 1950 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 30.7%, which works out to an average of
1.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.77 buys in 1965: the 1950 dollar
lost 23.5% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 1965 at the same ratio, 1.31: $1,000 becomes
$1,307, and $10,000 becomes $13,071.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1965
$1.00
$1.31
$5.00
$6.54
$10.00
$13.07
$20.00
$26.14
$50.00
$65.35
$100
$131
$500
$654
$1,000
$1,307
$5,000
$6,535
$10,000
$13,071
$100,000
$130,705
$1,000,000
$1,307,054
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1965
Between 1950 and 1965, medical care rose the most, up 66.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 18.6%, against 30.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.80%
$131
Medical care
3.47%
$167
Transportation
2.29%
$141
Food
1.59%
$127
Apparel
1.14%
$119
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 1965
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 2.08% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.25% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1965 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1950, at end
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$123
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$131
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $117 by
1957, on its way to $131 in 1965; 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 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $131; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1965: $100 is worth $131 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1965/