$100 in 1951 is worth $797 in 2007,
because prices increased 697.5% over that period, an average of
3.78% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$797
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
697.5%
Average inflation rate
3.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$797
Price difference ($100 base)
$697
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1951 → 2007
$797
$100 in 2007 → 1951
$12.54
What happened to prices between 1951 and 2007
Between 1951 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 697.5%, which works out to an average of
3.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2007: the 1951 dollar
lost 87.5% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 2007 at the same ratio, 7.97: $1,000 becomes
$7,975, and $10,000 becomes $79,747.
Amount in 1951
Value in 2007
$1.00
$7.97
$5.00
$39.87
$10.00
$79.75
$20.00
$159
$50.00
$399
$100
$797
$500
$3,987
$1,000
$7,975
$5,000
$39,873
$10,000
$79,747
$100,000
$797,469
$1,000,000
$7,974,692
Inflation by spending category, 1951–2007
Between 1951 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 2107.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 171.1%, against 697.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.78%
$797
Medical care
5.68%
$2,208
Transportation
3.70%
$766
Food
3.59%
$720
Apparel
1.80%
$271
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 2007
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 1951–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$797
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $279 by
1979, on its way to $797 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $797; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 2007: $100 is worth $797 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2007/