$100 in 1950 is worth $184 in 1973,
because prices increased 84.2% over that period, an average of
2.69% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$184
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
84.2%
Average inflation rate
2.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$184
Price difference ($100 base)
$84.23
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1950 → 1973
$184
$100 in 1973 → 1950
$54.28
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1973
Between 1950 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 84.2%, which works out to an average of
2.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1973: the 1950 dollar
lost 45.7% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 1973 at the same ratio, 1.84: $1,000 becomes
$1,842, and $10,000 becomes $18,423.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1973
$1.00
$1.84
$5.00
$9.21
$10.00
$18.42
$20.00
$36.85
$50.00
$92.12
$100
$184
$500
$921
$1,000
$1,842
$5,000
$9,212
$10,000
$18,423
$100,000
$184,232
$1,000,000
$1,842,324
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1973
Between 1950 and 1973, medical care rose the most, up 157.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 60.3%, against 84.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.69%
$184
Medical care
4.19%
$257
Food
2.82%
$190
Transportation
2.63%
$181
Apparel
2.07%
$160
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 1973
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 4.60% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1973 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
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$184
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $124 by
1961, on its way to $184 in 1973; 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 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $184; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1973: $100 is worth $184 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1973/