$100 in 1952 is worth $879 in 2013,
because prices increased 779.1% over that period, an average of
3.63% a year.
$100 in 1952 has
the same buying power as
$879
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
779.1%
Average inflation rate
3.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$879
Price difference ($100 base)
$779
CPI in 1952
26.5
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1952
1.92%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1952 → 2013
$879
$100 in 2013 → 1952
$11.38
What happened to prices between 1952 and 2013
Between 1952 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.5 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 779.1%, which works out to an average of
3.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1952 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2013: the 1952 dollar
lost 88.6% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 2013 at the same ratio, 8.79: $1,000 becomes
$8,791, and $10,000 becomes $87,908.
Amount in 1952
Value in 2013
$1.00
$8.79
$5.00
$43.95
$10.00
$87.91
$20.00
$176
$50.00
$440
$100
$879
$500
$4,395
$1,000
$8,791
$5,000
$43,954
$10,000
$87,908
$100,000
$879,083
$1,000,000
$8,790,830
Inflation by spending category, 1952–2013
Between 1952 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 2445.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 192.9%, against 779.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1952
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1952 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.63%
$879
Medical care
5.45%
$2,546
Transportation
3.56%
$846
Food
3.52%
$826
Apparel
1.78%
$293
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 2013
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 1952–2013 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$650
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$823
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$879
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1952
$100 from 1952 had already become $364 by
1982, on its way to $879 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 1952 had the buying
power of $879; 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 1952 to 2013: $100 is worth $879 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1952-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1952 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1952-to-2013/