$100 in 1950 is worth $446 in 1985,
because prices increased 346.5% over that period, an average of
4.37% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$446
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
346.5%
Average inflation rate
4.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$446
Price difference ($100 base)
$346
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1950 → 1985
$446
$100 in 1985 → 1950
$22.40
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1985
Between 1950 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 346.5%, which works out to an average of
4.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1985: the 1950 dollar
lost 77.6% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 1985 at the same ratio, 4.46: $1,000 becomes
$4,465, and $10,000 becomes $44,647.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1985
$1.00
$4.46
$5.00
$22.32
$10.00
$44.65
$20.00
$89.29
$50.00
$223
$100
$446
$500
$2,232
$1,000
$4,465
$5,000
$22,324
$10,000
$44,647
$100,000
$446,473
$1,000,000
$4,464,730
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1985
Between 1950 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 651.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 160.5%, against 346.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.37%
$446
Medical care
5.93%
$752
Transportation
4.51%
$469
Food
4.16%
$416
Apparel
2.77%
$261
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 1985
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 1950–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$446
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $144 by
1968, on its way to $446 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $446; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1985: $100 is worth $446 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1985/