$100 in 1952 is worth $592 in 1996,
because prices increased 492.1% over that period, an average of
4.12% a year.
$100 in 1952 has
the same buying power as
$592
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
492.1%
Average inflation rate
4.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$592
Price difference ($100 base)
$492
CPI in 1952
26.5
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1952
1.92%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1952 → 1996
$592
$100 in 1996 → 1952
$16.89
What happened to prices between 1952 and 1996
Between 1952 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.5 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 492.1%, which works out to an average of
4.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1952 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1996: the 1952 dollar
lost 83.1% of its purchasing power over
these 44 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.9% in 1952, down sharply from 1951’s
7.9% as the price and wage controls imposed the year before held the cost
of living in check even with the Korean War still underway. Labor strife
tested those controls that spring: to head off a strike that could have
disrupted war production, President Truman ordered the government to
seize the steel industry that April, over the objections of steel
companies fighting the price the Office of Price Stabilization had set for
their product. The Supreme Court ruled the seizure unconstitutional in
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer that June, a landmark limit on
presidential power, and steelworkers then struck for 53 days before a
settlement. Politics delivered the year’s biggest change that November:
Dwight Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson, promising to “go to Korea” to
end the war and returning Republicans to the White House for the first
time since 1933. The Cold War’s technological edge sharpened that same
month, when the United States tested the first hydrogen bomb at Enewetak
Atoll on November 1, a device hundreds of times more powerful than the
atomic bombs used against Japan in 1945. Consumer prices finished 1952
167.7% above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at
3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1952 amount converts to 1996 at the same ratio, 5.92: $1,000 becomes
$5,921, and $10,000 becomes $59,208.
Amount in 1952
Value in 1996
$1.00
$5.92
$5.00
$29.60
$10.00
$59.21
$20.00
$118
$50.00
$296
$100
$592
$500
$2,960
$1,000
$5,921
$5,000
$29,604
$10,000
$59,208
$100,000
$592,075
$1,000,000
$5,920,755
Inflation by spending category, 1952–1996
Between 1952 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 1266.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 202.8%, against 492.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1952
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1952 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.12%
$592
Medical care
6.12%
$1,366
Transportation
3.98%
$556
Food
3.88%
$534
Apparel
2.55%
$303
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1952: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1952 to 1996
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1952–1996 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1952, at end
1952–1960
1.39%
11.7%
$112
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$146
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$311
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$493
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$592
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1952
$100 from 1952 had already become $186 by
1974, on its way to $592 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1952 had the buying
power of $592; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1952 to 1996: $100 is worth $592 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1952-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1952 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1952-to-1996/