$100 in 1951 is worth $923 in 2016,
because prices increased 823.1% over that period, an average of
3.48% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$923
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
823.1%
Average inflation rate
3.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$923
Price difference ($100 base)
$823
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1951 → 2016
$923
$100 in 2016 → 1951
$10.83
What happened to prices between 1951 and 2016
Between 1951 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 823.1%, which works out to an average of
3.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2016: the 1951 dollar
lost 89.2% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 2016 at the same ratio, 9.23: $1,000 becomes
$9,231, and $10,000 becomes $92,310.
Amount in 1951
Value in 2016
$1.00
$9.23
$5.00
$46.16
$10.00
$92.31
$20.00
$185
$50.00
$462
$100
$923
$500
$4,616
$1,000
$9,231
$5,000
$46,155
$10,000
$92,310
$100,000
$923,104
$1,000,000
$9,231,038
Inflation by spending category, 1951–2016
Between 1951 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 2816.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 187.1%, against 823.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.48%
$923
Medical care
5.33%
$2,916
Food
3.40%
$879
Transportation
3.27%
$809
Apparel
1.64%
$287
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 2016
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 1951–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$923
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $350 by
1981, on its way to $923 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $923; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 2016: $100 is worth $923 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-2016/