$100 in 1950 is worth $491 in 1988,
because prices increased 390.9% over that period, an average of
4.28% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$491
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
390.9%
Average inflation rate
4.28% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$491
Price difference ($100 base)
$391
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1950 → 1988
$491
$100 in 1988 → 1950
$20.37
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1988
Between 1950 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 390.9%, which works out to an average of
4.28% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.20 buys in 1988: the 1950 dollar
lost 79.6% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 1988 at the same ratio, 4.91: $1,000 becomes
$4,909, and $10,000 becomes $49,087.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1988
$1.00
$4.91
$5.00
$24.54
$10.00
$49.09
$20.00
$98.17
$50.00
$245
$100
$491
$500
$2,454
$1,000
$4,909
$5,000
$24,544
$10,000
$49,087
$100,000
$490,871
$1,000,000
$4,908,714
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1988
Between 1950 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 817.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 186.4%, against 390.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.28%
$491
Medical care
6.01%
$918
Transportation
4.21%
$479
Food
4.13%
$465
Apparel
2.81%
$286
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 1988
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 1950–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$491
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $144 by
1968, on its way to $491 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $491; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1988: $100 is worth $491 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1988/