$100 in 1950 is worth $953 in 2012,
because prices increased 852.7% over that period, an average of
3.70% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$953
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
852.7%
Average inflation rate
3.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$953
Price difference ($100 base)
$853
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1950 → 2012
$953
$100 in 2012 → 1950
$10.50
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2012
Between 1950 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 852.7%, which works out to an average of
3.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2012: the 1950 dollar
lost 89.5% of its purchasing power over
these 62 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 2012 at the same ratio, 9.53: $1,000 becomes
$9,527, and $10,000 becomes $95,267.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2012
$1.00
$9.53
$5.00
$47.63
$10.00
$95.27
$20.00
$191
$50.00
$476
$100
$953
$500
$4,763
$1,000
$9,527
$5,000
$47,634
$10,000
$95,267
$100,000
$952,672
$1,000,000
$9,526,722
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2012
Between 1950 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 2647.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 213.3%, against 852.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.70%
$953
Medical care
5.49%
$2,748
Transportation
3.71%
$957
Food
3.64%
$920
Apparel
1.86%
$313
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 2012
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 1950–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$953
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $342 by
1980, on its way to $953 in 2012; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $953; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2012: $100 is worth $953 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2012/