$100 in 1950 is worth $983 in 2015,
because prices increased 883.5% over that period, an average of
3.58% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$983
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
883.5%
Average inflation rate
3.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$983
Price difference ($100 base)
$883
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1950 → 2015
$983
$100 in 2015 → 1950
$10.17
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2015
Between 1950 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 883.5%, which works out to an average of
3.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2015: the 1950 dollar
lost 89.8% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 2015 at the same ratio, 9.83: $1,000 becomes
$9,835, and $10,000 becomes $98,347.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2015
$1.00
$9.83
$5.00
$49.17
$10.00
$98.35
$20.00
$197
$50.00
$492
$100
$983
$500
$4,917
$1,000
$9,835
$5,000
$49,174
$10,000
$98,347
$100,000
$983,473
$1,000,000
$9,834,730
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2015
Between 1950 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 2858.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 212.4%, against 883.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.58%
$983
Medical care
5.35%
$2,959
Food
3.56%
$973
Transportation
3.40%
$877
Apparel
1.77%
$312
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 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$983
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $342 by
1980, on its way to $983 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $983; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2015: $100 is worth $983 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2015/