$100 in 1950 is worth $1,061 in 2019,
because prices increased 960.8% over that period, an average of
3.48% a year.
$100 in 1950 has
the same buying power as
$1,061
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
960.8%
Average inflation rate
3.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,061
Price difference ($100 base)
$961
CPI in 1950
24.1
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1950 → 2019
$1,061
$100 in 2019 → 1950
$9.43
What happened to prices between 1950 and 2019
Between 1950 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 960.8%, which works out to an average of
3.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1950 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2019: the 1950 dollar
lost 90.6% of its purchasing power over
these 69 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 2019 at the same ratio, 10.61: $1,000 becomes
$10,608, and $10,000 becomes $106,082.
Amount in 1950
Value in 2019
$1.00
$10.61
$5.00
$53.04
$10.00
$106
$20.00
$212
$50.00
$530
$100
$1,061
$500
$5,304
$1,000
$10,608
$5,000
$53,041
$10,000
$106,082
$100,000
$1,060,817
$1,000,000
$10,608,174
Inflation by spending category, 1950–2019
Between 1950 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 3200.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 207.8%, against 960.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1950
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1950 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.48%
$1,061
Medical care
5.20%
$3,301
Food
3.42%
$1,017
Transportation
3.28%
$925
Apparel
1.64%
$308
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 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1950–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,061
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1950
$100 from 1950 had already become $446 by
1985, on its way to $1,061 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1950 had the buying
power of $1,061; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1950 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,061 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1950 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1950-to-2019/