$100 in 1950 is worth $784 in 2004,
because prices increased 683.8% over that period, an average of
3.89% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$784
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
683.8%
Average inflation rate
3.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$784
Price difference ($100 base)
$684
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1950 → 2004
$784
$100 in 2004 → 1950
$12.76
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2004
Between 1950 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 683.8%, which works out to an average of
3.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2004: the 1950 dollar
lost 87.2% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 2004 at the same ratio, 7.84: $1,000 becomes
$7,838, and $10,000 becomes $78,382.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2004
$1.00
$7.84
$5.00
$39.19
$10.00
$78.38
$20.00
$157
$50.00
$392
$100
$784
$500
$3,919
$1,000
$7,838
$5,000
$39,191
$10,000
$78,382
$100,000
$783,817
$1,000,000
$7,838,174
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2004
Between 1950 and 2004, medical care rose the most, up 1953.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 198.8%, against 683.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.89%
$784
Medical care
5.76%
$2,054
Food
3.76%
$733
Transportation
3.72%
$719
Apparel
2.05%
$299
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 2004
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 1950–2004 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
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$784
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $236 by
1976, on its way to $784 in 2004; 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: 2004
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $784; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2004: $100 is worth $784 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2004/