$100 in 1951 is worth $828 in 2008,
because prices increased 728.1% over that period, an average of
3.78% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$828
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
728.1%
Average inflation rate
3.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$828
Price difference ($100 base)
$728
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1951 → 2008
$828
$100 in 2008 → 1951
$12.08
What happened to prices between 1951 and 2008
Between 1951 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 728.1%, which works out to an average of
3.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2008: the 1951 dollar
lost 87.9% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 2008 at the same ratio, 8.28: $1,000 becomes
$8,281, and $10,000 becomes $82,809.
Amount in 1951
Value in 2008
$1.00
$8.28
$5.00
$41.40
$10.00
$82.81
$20.00
$166
$50.00
$414
$100
$828
$500
$4,140
$1,000
$8,281
$5,000
$41,404
$10,000
$82,809
$100,000
$828,088
$1,000,000
$8,280,885
Inflation by spending category, 1951–2008
Between 1951 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 2189.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 170.9%, against 728.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.78%
$828
Medical care
5.65%
$2,290
Transportation
3.74%
$811
Food
3.62%
$759
Apparel
1.76%
$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 2008
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 1951–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$828
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $279 by
1979, on its way to $828 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $828; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 2008: $100 is worth $828 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2008/