$100 in 1950 is worth $632 in 1995,
because prices increased 532.4% over that period, an average of
4.18% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$632
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
532.4%
Average inflation rate
4.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$632
Price difference ($100 base)
$532
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1950 → 1995
$632
$100 in 1995 → 1950
$15.81
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1995
Between 1950 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 532.4%, which works out to an average of
4.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1995: the 1950 dollar
lost 84.2% of its purchasing power over
these 45 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 1995 at the same ratio, 6.32: $1,000 becomes
$6,324, and $10,000 becomes $63,237.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1995
$1.00
$6.32
$5.00
$31.62
$10.00
$63.24
$20.00
$126
$50.00
$316
$100
$632
$500
$3,162
$1,000
$6,324
$5,000
$31,618
$10,000
$63,237
$100,000
$632,365
$1,000,000
$6,323,651
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1995
Between 1950 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 1360.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 227.5%, against 532.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.18%
$632
Medical care
6.14%
$1,460
Transportation
4.11%
$613
Food
4.00%
$584
Apparel
2.67%
$328
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 1995
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 1950–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$632
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $173 by
1972, on its way to $632 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $632; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1995: $100 is worth $632 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1995/