$100 in 1950 is worth $615 in 1994,
because prices increased 514.9% over that period, an average of
4.21% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$615
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
514.9%
Average inflation rate
4.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$615
Price difference ($100 base)
$515
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1950 → 1994
$615
$100 in 1994 → 1950
$16.26
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1994
Between 1950 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 514.9%, which works out to an average of
4.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1994: the 1950 dollar
lost 83.7% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 1994 at the same ratio, 6.15: $1,000 becomes
$6,149, and $10,000 becomes $61,494.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1994
$1.00
$6.15
$5.00
$30.75
$10.00
$61.49
$20.00
$123
$50.00
$307
$100
$615
$500
$3,075
$1,000
$6,149
$5,000
$30,747
$10,000
$61,494
$100,000
$614,938
$1,000,000
$6,149,378
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1994
Between 1950 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 1297.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 231.0%, against 514.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.21%
$615
Medical care
6.18%
$1,397
Transportation
4.12%
$592
Food
4.03%
$568
Apparel
2.76%
$331
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 1994
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 1950–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$615
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $173 by
1972, on its way to $615 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $615; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1994: $100 is worth $615 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1994/