$100 in 1951 is worth $207 in 1975,
because prices increased 106.9% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$207
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
106.9%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$207
Price difference ($100 base)
$107
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1951 → 1975
$207
$100 in 1975 → 1951
$48.33
What happened to prices between 1951 and 1975
Between 1951 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 106.9%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1975: the 1951 dollar
lost 51.7% of its purchasing power over
these 24 years.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
Every 1951 amount converts to 1975 at the same ratio, 2.07: $1,000 becomes
$2,069, and $10,000 becomes $20,692.
Amount in 1951
Value in 1975
$1.00
$2.07
$5.00
$10.35
$10.00
$20.69
$20.00
$41.38
$50.00
$103
$100
$207
$500
$1,035
$1,000
$2,069
$5,000
$10,346
$10,000
$20,692
$100,000
$206,923
$1,000,000
$2,069,231
Inflation by spending category, 1951–1975
Between 1951 and 1975, medical care rose the most, up 198.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 65.1%, against 106.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$207
Medical care
4.67%
$299
Food
3.18%
$212
Transportation
3.10%
$208
Apparel
2.11%
$165
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1951: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1951 to 1975
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.76% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.45% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1951–1975 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1951, at end
1951–1960
1.45%
13.8%
$114
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$149
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$207
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $118 by
1963, on its way to $207 in 1975; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $207; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 1975: $100 is worth $207 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1975/