$100 in 1951 is worth $692 in 2002,
because prices increased 591.9% over that period, an average of
3.87% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$692
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
591.9%
Average inflation rate
3.87% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$692
Price difference ($100 base)
$592
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1951 → 2002
$692
$100 in 2002 → 1951
$14.45
What happened to prices between 1951 and 2002
Between 1951 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 591.9%, which works out to an average of
3.87% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2002: the 1951 dollar
lost 85.5% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2002 at the same ratio, 6.92: $1,000 becomes
$6,919, and $10,000 becomes $69,192.
Amount in 1951
Value in 2002
$1.00
$6.92
$5.00
$34.60
$10.00
$69.19
$20.00
$138
$50.00
$346
$100
$692
$500
$3,460
$1,000
$6,919
$5,000
$34,596
$10,000
$69,192
$100,000
$691,923
$1,000,000
$6,919,231
Inflation by spending category, 1951–2002
Between 1951 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 1696.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 182.5%, against 591.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.87%
$692
Medical care
5.83%
$1,796
Transportation
3.69%
$634
Food
3.66%
$625
Apparel
2.06%
$282
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 2002
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 1951–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$692
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $233 by
1977, on its way to $692 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $692; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 2002: $100 is worth $692 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2002/