$100 in 1950 is worth $377 in 1981,
because prices increased 277.2% over that period, an average of
4.38% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$377
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
277.2%
Average inflation rate
4.38% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$377
Price difference ($100 base)
$277
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1950 → 1981
$377
$100 in 1981 → 1950
$26.51
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1981
Between 1950 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 277.2%, which works out to an average of
4.38% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1981: the 1950 dollar
lost 73.5% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 1981 at the same ratio, 3.77: $1,000 becomes
$3,772, and $10,000 becomes $37,718.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1981
$1.00
$3.77
$5.00
$18.86
$10.00
$37.72
$20.00
$75.44
$50.00
$189
$100
$377
$500
$1,886
$1,000
$3,772
$5,000
$18,859
$10,000
$37,718
$100,000
$377,178
$1,000,000
$3,771,784
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1981
Between 1950 and 1981, medical care rose the most, up 449.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 136.5%, against 277.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.38%
$377
Medical care
5.65%
$549
Transportation
4.66%
$411
Food
4.30%
$369
Apparel
2.82%
$236
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–1981 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
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$377
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $134 by
1966, on its way to $377 in 1981; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $377; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1981: $100 is worth $377 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1981/