$100 in 1951 is worth $662 in 2000,
because prices increased 562.3% over that period, an average of
3.93% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$662
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
562.3%
Average inflation rate
3.93% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$662
Price difference ($100 base)
$562
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1951 → 2000
$662
$100 in 2000 → 1951
$15.10
What happened to prices between 1951 and 2000
Between 1951 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 562.3%, which works out to an average of
3.93% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2000: the 1951 dollar
lost 84.9% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 2000 at the same ratio, 6.62: $1,000 becomes
$6,623, and $10,000 becomes $66,231.
Amount in 1951
Value in 2000
$1.00
$6.62
$5.00
$33.12
$10.00
$66.23
$20.00
$132
$50.00
$331
$100
$662
$500
$3,312
$1,000
$6,623
$5,000
$33,115
$10,000
$66,231
$100,000
$662,308
$1,000,000
$6,623,077
Inflation by spending category, 1951–2000
Between 1951 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1540.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.2%, against 562.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.93%
$662
Medical care
5.88%
$1,640
Transportation
3.85%
$636
Food
3.71%
$595
Apparel
2.23%
$295
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 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.45% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1951–2000 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$317
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$503
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$662
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $207 by
1975, on its way to $662 in 2000; 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $662; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 2000: $100 is worth $662 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2000/