$100 in 1950 is worth $455 in 1986,
because prices increased 354.8% over that period, an average of
4.30% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$455
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
354.8%
Average inflation rate
4.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$455
Price difference ($100 base)
$355
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1950 → 1986
$455
$100 in 1986 → 1950
$21.99
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1986
Between 1950 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 354.8%, which works out to an average of
4.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1986: the 1950 dollar
lost 78.0% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 1986 at the same ratio, 4.55: $1,000 becomes
$4,548, and $10,000 becomes $45,477.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1986
$1.00
$4.55
$5.00
$22.74
$10.00
$45.48
$20.00
$90.95
$50.00
$227
$100
$455
$500
$2,274
$1,000
$4,548
$5,000
$22,739
$10,000
$45,477
$100,000
$454,772
$1,000,000
$4,547,718
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1986
Between 1950 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 707.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 162.8%, against 354.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.30%
$455
Medical care
5.98%
$808
Transportation
4.27%
$451
Food
4.13%
$429
Apparel
2.72%
$263
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 1986
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 1950–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$455
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $144 by
1968, on its way to $455 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $455; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1986: $100 is worth $455 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1986/