$100 in 1953 is worth $645 in 2000,
because prices increased 544.9% over that period, an average of
4.05% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$645
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
544.9%
Average inflation rate
4.05% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$645
Price difference ($100 base)
$545
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1953 → 2000
$645
$100 in 2000 → 1953
$15.51
What happened to prices between 1953 and 2000
Between 1953 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 544.9%, which works out to an average of
4.05% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2000: the 1953 dollar
lost 84.5% of its purchasing power over
these 47 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% in 1953, down from 1952’s 1.9% as
fighting in Korea wound toward a truce and three years of wartime buying
pressure finally eased. The year’s biggest shock came from Moscow: Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin died March 5 after nearly three decades in power, the
first change of Soviet leadership since the 1920s, opening a period of
uncertainty over how his successors would deal with the West. Washington
used the calmer backdrop to unwind its own wartime machinery. Authority
for the price and wage controls imposed in 1951 lapsed that spring, as the
Eisenhower administration, which favored free markets over controls, wound
down the Office of Price Stabilization. The war itself ended, on paper,
that July: negotiators signed an armistice July 27 at Panmunjom, halting
the fighting roughly along the original border near the 38th parallel. No
formal peace treaty ever followed, and North and South Korea remain
technically at war. Consumer prices finished 1953 169.7% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1953 amount converts to 2000 at the same ratio, 6.45: $1,000 becomes
$6,449, and $10,000 becomes $64,494.
Amount in 1953
Value in 2000
$1.00
$6.45
$5.00
$32.25
$10.00
$64.49
$20.00
$129
$50.00
$322
$100
$645
$500
$3,225
$1,000
$6,449
$5,000
$32,247
$10,000
$64,494
$100,000
$644,944
$1,000,000
$6,449,438
Inflation by spending category, 1953–2000
Between 1953 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1407.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 200.7%, against 544.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.05%
$645
Medical care
5.94%
$1,508
Food
3.86%
$593
Transportation
3.81%
$578
Apparel
2.37%
$301
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1953: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1953 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.48% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1953–2000 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1953, at end
1953–1960
1.48%
10.9%
$111
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$145
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$309
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$490
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$645
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $227 by
1977, on its way to $645 in 2000; 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: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1953 had the buying
power of $645; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1953 to 2000: $100 is worth $645 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2000/