$100 in 1950 is worth $168 in 1971,
because prices increased 68.0% over that period, an average of
2.50% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$168
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
68.0%
Average inflation rate
2.50% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$168
Price difference ($100 base)
$68.05
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1950 → 1971
$168
$100 in 1971 → 1950
$59.51
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1971
Between 1950 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 68.0%, which works out to an average of
2.50% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.60 buys in 1971: the 1950 dollar
lost 40.5% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 1971 at the same ratio, 1.68: $1,000 becomes
$1,680, and $10,000 becomes $16,805.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1971
$1.00
$1.68
$5.00
$8.40
$10.00
$16.80
$20.00
$33.61
$50.00
$84.02
$100
$168
$500
$840
$1,000
$1,680
$5,000
$8,402
$10,000
$16,805
$100,000
$168,050
$1,000,000
$1,680,498
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1971
Between 1950 and 1971, medical care rose the most, up 139.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 51.6%, against 68.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.50%
$168
Medical care
4.24%
$239
Transportation
2.67%
$174
Food
2.23%
$159
Apparel
2.00%
$152
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 1971
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 4.38% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1971 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1950, at end
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$123
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$161
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$168
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $123 by
1960, on its way to $168 in 1971; 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 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $168; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1971: $100 is worth $168 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1971/