$100 in 1950 is worth $413 in 1983,
because prices increased 313.3% over that period, an average of
4.39% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$413
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
313.3%
Average inflation rate
4.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$413
Price difference ($100 base)
$313
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1950 → 1983
$413
$100 in 1983 → 1950
$24.20
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1983
Between 1950 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 313.3%, which works out to an average of
4.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1983: the 1950 dollar
lost 75.8% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 1983 at the same ratio, 4.13: $1,000 becomes
$4,133, and $10,000 becomes $41,328.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1983
$1.00
$4.13
$5.00
$20.66
$10.00
$41.33
$20.00
$82.66
$50.00
$207
$100
$413
$500
$2,066
$1,000
$4,133
$5,000
$20,664
$10,000
$41,328
$100,000
$413,278
$1,000,000
$4,132,780
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1983
Between 1950 and 1983, medical care rose the most, up 566.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 148.6%, against 313.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.39%
$413
Medical care
5.92%
$666
Transportation
4.57%
$437
Food
4.22%
$391
Apparel
2.80%
$249
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 1983
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 1950–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$413
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $134 by
1966, on its way to $413 in 1983; 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: 1983
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $413; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1983: $100 is worth $413 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1983/