$100 in 1950 is worth $542 in 1990,
because prices increased 442.3% over that period, an average of
4.32% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$542
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
442.3%
Average inflation rate
4.32% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$542
Price difference ($100 base)
$442
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1950 → 1990
$542
$100 in 1990 → 1950
$18.44
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1990
Between 1950 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 442.3%, which works out to an average of
4.32% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1990: the 1950 dollar
lost 81.6% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 1990 at the same ratio, 5.42: $1,000 becomes
$5,423, and $10,000 becomes $54,232.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1990
$1.00
$5.42
$5.00
$27.12
$10.00
$54.23
$20.00
$108
$50.00
$271
$100
$542
$500
$2,712
$1,000
$5,423
$5,000
$27,116
$10,000
$54,232
$100,000
$542,324
$1,000,000
$5,423,237
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1990
Between 1950 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 978.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 207.9%, against 442.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.32%
$542
Medical care
6.12%
$1,078
Transportation
4.26%
$531
Food
4.21%
$521
Apparel
2.85%
$308
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 1990
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 1950–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$542
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $161 by
1970, on its way to $542 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $542; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1990: $100 is worth $542 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1990/