$100 in 1953 is worth $806 in 2008,
because prices increased 706.4% over that period, an average of
3.87% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$806
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
706.4%
Average inflation rate
3.87% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$806
Price difference ($100 base)
$706
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1953 → 2008
$806
$100 in 2008 → 1953
$12.40
What happened to prices between 1953 and 2008
Between 1953 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 706.4%, which works out to an average of
3.87% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2008: the 1953 dollar
lost 87.6% of its purchasing power over
these 55 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 2008 at the same ratio, 8.06: $1,000 becomes
$8,064, and $10,000 becomes $80,638.
Amount in 1953
Value in 2008
$1.00
$8.06
$5.00
$40.32
$10.00
$80.64
$20.00
$161
$50.00
$403
$100
$806
$500
$4,032
$1,000
$8,064
$5,000
$40,319
$10,000
$80,638
$100,000
$806,378
$1,000,000
$8,063,783
Inflation by spending category, 1953–2008
Between 1953 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 2004.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 175.9%, against 706.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.87%
$806
Medical care
5.70%
$2,104
Food
3.75%
$757
Transportation
3.70%
$738
Apparel
1.86%
$276
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 2008
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 1953–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$806
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $340 by
1981, on its way to $806 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1953 had the buying
power of $806; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1953 to 2008: $100 is worth $806 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2008/