$100 in 1950 is worth $223 in 1975,
because prices increased 123.2% over that period, an average of
3.26% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$223
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
123.2%
Average inflation rate
3.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$223
Price difference ($100 base)
$123
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1950 → 1975
$223
$100 in 1975 → 1950
$44.80
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1975
Between 1950 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 123.2%, which works out to an average of
3.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.45 buys in 1975: the 1950 dollar
lost 55.2% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1975 at the same ratio, 2.23: $1,000 becomes
$2,232, and $10,000 becomes $22,324.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1975
$1.00
$2.23
$5.00
$11.16
$10.00
$22.32
$20.00
$44.65
$50.00
$112
$100
$223
$500
$1,116
$1,000
$2,232
$5,000
$11,162
$10,000
$22,324
$100,000
$223,237
$1,000,000
$2,232,365
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1975
Between 1950 and 1975, medical care rose the most, up 214.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 79.9%, against 123.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.26%
$223
Medical care
4.69%
$315
Food
3.48%
$235
Transportation
3.22%
$221
Apparel
2.38%
$180
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 1975
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.76% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1975 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
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$223
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $125 by
1962, on its way to $223 in 1975; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $223; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1975: $100 is worth $223 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1975/