$100 in 1953 is worth $872 in 2013,
because prices increased 772.5% over that period, an average of
3.68% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$872
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
772.5%
Average inflation rate
3.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$872
Price difference ($100 base)
$772
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1953 → 2013
$872
$100 in 2013 → 1953
$11.46
What happened to prices between 1953 and 2013
Between 1953 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 772.5%, which works out to an average of
3.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2013: the 1953 dollar
lost 88.5% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 2013 at the same ratio, 8.72: $1,000 becomes
$8,725, and $10,000 becomes $87,250.
Amount in 1953
Value in 2013
$1.00
$8.72
$5.00
$43.62
$10.00
$87.25
$20.00
$174
$50.00
$436
$100
$872
$500
$4,362
$1,000
$8,725
$5,000
$43,625
$10,000
$87,250
$100,000
$872,498
$1,000,000
$8,724,981
Inflation by spending category, 1953–2013
Between 1953 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 2357.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.6%, against 772.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.68%
$872
Medical care
5.48%
$2,457
Food
3.61%
$838
Transportation
3.57%
$820
Apparel
1.82%
$296
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 2013
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 1953–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$817
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$872
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $373 by
1983, on its way to $872 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1953 had the buying
power of $872; 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 1953 to 2013: $100 is worth $872 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2013/