$100 in 1950 is worth $1,017 in 2017,
because prices increased 917.1% over that period, an average of
3.52% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$1,017
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
917.1%
Average inflation rate
3.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,017
Price difference ($100 base)
$917
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1950 → 2017
$1,017
$100 in 2017 → 1950
$9.83
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2017
Between 1950 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 917.1%, which works out to an average of
3.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2017: the 1950 dollar
lost 90.2% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 2017 at the same ratio, 10.17: $1,000 becomes
$10,171, and $10,000 becomes $101,710.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2017
$1.00
$10.17
$5.00
$50.85
$10.00
$102
$20.00
$203
$50.00
$509
$100
$1,017
$500
$5,085
$1,000
$10,171
$5,000
$50,855
$10,000
$101,710
$100,000
$1,017,095
$1,000,000
$10,170,954
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2017
Between 1950 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 3047.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 211.7%, against 917.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.52%
$1,017
Medical care
5.28%
$3,148
Food
3.47%
$985
Transportation
3.31%
$888
Apparel
1.71%
$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 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$1,017
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $446 by
1985, on its way to $1,017 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $1,017; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2017: $100 is worth $1,017 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2017/