$100 in 1950 is worth $905 in 2010,
because prices increased 804.8% over that period, an average of
3.74% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$905
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
804.8%
Average inflation rate
3.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$905
Price difference ($100 base)
$805
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1950 → 2010
$905
$100 in 2010 → 1950
$11.05
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2010
Between 1950 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 804.8%, which works out to an average of
3.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2010: the 1950 dollar
lost 88.9% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 2010 at the same ratio, 9.05: $1,000 becomes
$9,048, and $10,000 becomes $90,480.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2010
$1.00
$9.05
$5.00
$45.24
$10.00
$90.48
$20.00
$181
$50.00
$452
$100
$905
$500
$4,524
$1,000
$9,048
$5,000
$45,240
$10,000
$90,480
$100,000
$904,797
$1,000,000
$9,047,967
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2010
Between 1950 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 2472.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 196.5%, against 804.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.74%
$905
Medical care
5.56%
$2,572
Food
3.66%
$865
Transportation
3.64%
$852
Apparel
1.83%
$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 2010
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 1950–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$905
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $342 by
1980, on its way to $905 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $905; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2010: $100 is worth $905 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2010/