$100 in 1950 is worth $152 in 1969,
because prices increased 52.3% over that period, an average of
2.24% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$152
in 1969
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
52.3%
Average inflation rate
2.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$152
Price difference ($100 base)
$52.28
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1969
36.7
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1969
5.46%
$100 in 1950 → 1969
$152
$100 in 1969 → 1950
$65.67
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1969
Between 1950 and 1969, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 36.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 52.3%, which works out to an average of
2.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.66 buys in 1969: the 1950 dollar
lost 34.3% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1969 at the same ratio, 1.52: $1,000 becomes
$1,523, and $10,000 becomes $15,228.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1969
$1.00
$1.52
$5.00
$7.61
$10.00
$15.23
$20.00
$30.46
$50.00
$76.14
$100
$152
$500
$761
$1,000
$1,523
$5,000
$7,614
$10,000
$15,228
$100,000
$152,282
$1,000,000
$1,522,822
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1969
Between 1950 and 1969, medical care rose the most, up 111.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 40.9%, against 52.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1969, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.24%
$152
Medical care
4.01%
$211
Transportation
2.41%
$157
Food
2.01%
$146
Apparel
1.82%
$141
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 1969
Prices climbed fastest in the 1960s, averaging 2.42% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1969 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1950, at end
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$123
1960–1969
2.42%
24.0%
$152
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $121 by
1959, on its way to $152 in 1969; 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 1969, prices rose 5.5% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $152; the year's average CPI of 36.7 is the level
behind every 1969 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.5% in 1969, up from 1968’s 4.2% and
the fastest pace since the Korean War era, as years of Vietnam War
spending, a labor market with unemployment under 4%, and expansionary
fiscal policy finally showed up fully in prices. Richard Nixon was
inaugurated that January 20, pledging to curb rising prices without wage
and price controls, a position he would reverse within two years. The
decade’s most triumphant moment came that July 20, when Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon while Michael Collins orbited above,
fulfilling the goal Kennedy had set in 1961 of landing a man on the lunar
surface before the decade’s end. Culture and protest both reached new
extremes that year: an estimated 400,000 people gathered on a dairy farm
in Bethel, New York, for the Woodstock music festival that August, and a
police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village that
June touched off days of resistance now credited with launching the
modern gay rights movement. Consumer prices finished the decade 270.7%
above their 1913 level, up 24.0% from where they stood in
1960. The 1960s had opened with inflation near 1% a year and closed with
prices rising faster than at any point since Korea, setting up the Great
Inflation that would define the
1970s. First-class postage held at 6 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at $1.60 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1969: $100 is worth $152 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1969/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1969. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1969/