$100 in 1950 is worth $342 in 1980,
because prices increased 241.9% over that period, an average of
4.18% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$342
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
241.9%
Average inflation rate
4.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$342
Price difference ($100 base)
$242
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1950 → 1980
$342
$100 in 1980 → 1950
$29.25
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1980
Between 1950 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 241.9%, which works out to an average of
4.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1980: the 1950 dollar
lost 70.8% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1980 at the same ratio, 3.42: $1,000 becomes
$3,419, and $10,000 becomes $34,191.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1980
$1.00
$3.42
$5.00
$17.10
$10.00
$34.19
$20.00
$68.38
$50.00
$171
$100
$342
$500
$1,710
$1,000
$3,419
$5,000
$17,095
$10,000
$34,191
$100,000
$341,909
$1,000,000
$3,419,087
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1980
Between 1950 and 1980, medical care rose the most, up 396.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 125.6%, against 241.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.18%
$342
Medical care
5.48%
$496
Transportation
4.42%
$366
Food
4.18%
$342
Apparel
2.75%
$226
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 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$342
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $131 by
1965, on its way to $342 in 1980; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $342; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1980: $100 is worth $342 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1980/