$100 in 1953 is worth $663 in 2001,
because prices increased 563.3% over that period, an average of
4.02% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$663
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
563.3%
Average inflation rate
4.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$663
Price difference ($100 base)
$563
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1953 → 2001
$663
$100 in 2001 → 1953
$15.08
What happened to prices between 1953 and 2001
Between 1953 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 563.3%, which works out to an average of
4.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2001: the 1953 dollar
lost 84.9% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 2001 at the same ratio, 6.63: $1,000 becomes
$6,633, and $10,000 becomes $66,330.
Amount in 1953
Value in 2001
$1.00
$6.63
$5.00
$33.16
$10.00
$66.33
$20.00
$133
$50.00
$332
$100
$663
$500
$3,316
$1,000
$6,633
$5,000
$33,165
$10,000
$66,330
$100,000
$663,296
$1,000,000
$6,632,959
Inflation by spending category, 1953–2001
Between 1953 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 1476.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.4%, against 563.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.02%
$663
Medical care
5.91%
$1,577
Food
3.85%
$612
Transportation
3.74%
$582
Apparel
2.28%
$295
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 2001
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 1953–2001 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
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$663
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $227 by
1977, on its way to $663 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1953 had the buying
power of $663; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1953 to 2001: $100 is worth $663 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2001/