$100 in 1950 is worth $600 in 1993,
because prices increased 499.6% over that period, an average of
4.25% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$600
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
499.6%
Average inflation rate
4.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$600
Price difference ($100 base)
$500
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1950 → 1993
$600
$100 in 1993 → 1950
$16.68
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1993
Between 1950 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 499.6%, which works out to an average of
4.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1993: the 1950 dollar
lost 83.3% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 1993 at the same ratio, 6.00: $1,000 becomes
$5,996, and $10,000 becomes $59,959.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1993
$1.00
$6.00
$5.00
$29.98
$10.00
$59.96
$20.00
$120
$50.00
$300
$100
$600
$500
$2,998
$1,000
$5,996
$5,000
$29,979
$10,000
$59,959
$100,000
$599,585
$1,000,000
$5,995,851
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1993
Between 1950 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 1233.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 231.8%, against 499.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.25%
$600
Medical care
6.21%
$1,334
Transportation
4.15%
$574
Food
4.06%
$555
Apparel
2.83%
$332
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 1993
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 1950–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$600
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $173 by
1972, on its way to $600 in 1993; 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: 1993
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $600; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1993: $100 is worth $600 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1993/