$100 in 1953 is worth $674 in 2002,
because prices increased 573.8% over that period, an average of
3.97% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$674
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
573.8%
Average inflation rate
3.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$674
Price difference ($100 base)
$574
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1953 → 2002
$674
$100 in 2002 → 1953
$14.84
What happened to prices between 1953 and 2002
Between 1953 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 573.8%, which works out to an average of
3.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2002: the 1953 dollar
lost 85.2% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 2002 at the same ratio, 6.74: $1,000 becomes
$6,738, and $10,000 becomes $67,378.
Amount in 1953
Value in 2002
$1.00
$6.74
$5.00
$33.69
$10.00
$67.38
$20.00
$135
$50.00
$337
$100
$674
$500
$3,369
$1,000
$6,738
$5,000
$33,689
$10,000
$67,378
$100,000
$673,783
$1,000,000
$6,737,828
Inflation by spending category, 1953–2002
Between 1953 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 1550.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 187.7%, against 573.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.97%
$674
Medical care
5.89%
$1,651
Food
3.80%
$623
Transportation
3.64%
$577
Apparel
2.18%
$288
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 2002
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 1953–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$674
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $227 by
1977, on its way to $674 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1953 had the buying
power of $674; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1953 to 2002: $100 is worth $674 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2002/