$100 in 1950 is worth $746 in 2002,
because prices increased 646.5% over that period, an average of
3.94% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$746
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
646.5%
Average inflation rate
3.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$746
Price difference ($100 base)
$646
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1950 → 2002
$746
$100 in 2002 → 1950
$13.40
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2002
Between 1950 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 646.5%, which works out to an average of
3.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2002: the 1950 dollar
lost 86.6% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 2002 at the same ratio, 7.46: $1,000 becomes
$7,465, and $10,000 becomes $74,647.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2002
$1.00
$7.46
$5.00
$37.32
$10.00
$74.65
$20.00
$149
$50.00
$373
$100
$746
$500
$3,732
$1,000
$7,465
$5,000
$37,324
$10,000
$74,647
$100,000
$746,473
$1,000,000
$7,464,730
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2002
Between 1950 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 1791.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 207.7%, against 646.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.94%
$746
Medical care
5.82%
$1,891
Food
3.79%
$694
Transportation
3.74%
$674
Apparel
2.18%
$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 2002
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 1950–2002 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$715
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$746
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $236 by
1976, on its way to $746 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $746; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2002: $100 is worth $746 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2002/