$100 in 1950 is worth $810 in 2005,
because prices increased 710.4% over that period, an average of
3.88% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$810
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
710.4%
Average inflation rate
3.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$810
Price difference ($100 base)
$710
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1950 → 2005
$810
$100 in 2005 → 1950
$12.34
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2005
Between 1950 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 710.4%, which works out to an average of
3.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2005: the 1950 dollar
lost 87.7% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 2005 at the same ratio, 8.10: $1,000 becomes
$8,104, and $10,000 becomes $81,037.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2005
$1.00
$8.10
$5.00
$40.52
$10.00
$81.04
$20.00
$162
$50.00
$405
$100
$810
$500
$4,052
$1,000
$8,104
$5,000
$40,519
$10,000
$81,037
$100,000
$810,373
$1,000,000
$8,103,734
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2005
Between 1950 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 2040.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 196.5%, against 710.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.88%
$810
Medical care
5.73%
$2,140
Transportation
3.77%
$766
Food
3.73%
$751
Apparel
2.00%
$297
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 2005
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 1950–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$810
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $271 by
1978, on its way to $810 in 2005; 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: 2005
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $810; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2005: $100 is worth $810 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2005/