$100 in 1951 is worth $896 in 2013,
because prices increased 796.0% over that period, an average of
3.60% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$896
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
796.0%
Average inflation rate
3.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$896
Price difference ($100 base)
$796
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1951 → 2013
$896
$100 in 2013 → 1951
$11.16
What happened to prices between 1951 and 2013
Between 1951 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 796.0%, which works out to an average of
3.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2013: the 1951 dollar
lost 88.8% of its purchasing power over
these 62 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 2013 at the same ratio, 8.96: $1,000 becomes
$8,960, and $10,000 becomes $89,599.
Amount in 1951
Value in 2013
$1.00
$8.96
$5.00
$44.80
$10.00
$89.60
$20.00
$179
$50.00
$448
$100
$896
$500
$4,480
$1,000
$8,960
$5,000
$44,799
$10,000
$89,599
$100,000
$895,988
$1,000,000
$8,959,885
Inflation by spending category, 1951–2013
Between 1951 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 2573.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 190.2%, against 796.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.60%
$896
Medical care
5.44%
$2,674
Transportation
3.61%
$902
Food
3.49%
$841
Apparel
1.73%
$290
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 2013
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 1951–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$839
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$896
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $350 by
1981, on its way to $896 in 2013; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $896; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 2013: $100 is worth $896 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2013/