$100 in 1950 is worth $691 in 1999,
because prices increased 591.3% over that period, an average of
4.02% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$691
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
591.3%
Average inflation rate
4.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$691
Price difference ($100 base)
$591
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1950 → 1999
$691
$100 in 1999 → 1950
$14.47
What happened to prices between 1950 and 1999
Between 1950 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 591.3%, which works out to an average of
4.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1999: the 1950 dollar
lost 85.5% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1999 at the same ratio, 6.91: $1,000 becomes
$6,913, and $10,000 becomes $69,129.
Amount in 1950
Value in 1999
$1.00
$6.91
$5.00
$34.56
$10.00
$69.13
$20.00
$138
$50.00
$346
$100
$691
$500
$3,456
$1,000
$6,913
$5,000
$34,564
$10,000
$69,129
$100,000
$691,286
$1,000,000
$6,912,863
Inflation by spending category, 1950–1999
Between 1950 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 1559.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 225.8%, against 591.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.02%
$691
Medical care
5.90%
$1,660
Food
3.88%
$646
Transportation
3.85%
$636
Apparel
2.44%
$326
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 1999
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 1950–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$691
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $205 by
1974, on its way to $691 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $691; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 1999: $100 is worth $691 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-1999/