$100 in 1953 is worth $887 in 2014,
because prices increased 786.7% over that period, an average of
3.64% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$887
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
786.7%
Average inflation rate
3.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$887
Price difference ($100 base)
$787
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1953 → 2014
$887
$100 in 2014 → 1953
$11.28
What happened to prices between 1953 and 2014
Between 1953 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 786.7%, which works out to an average of
3.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2014: the 1953 dollar
lost 88.7% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 2014 at the same ratio, 8.87: $1,000 becomes
$8,867, and $10,000 becomes $88,665.
Amount in 1953
Value in 2014
$1.00
$8.87
$5.00
$44.33
$10.00
$88.67
$20.00
$177
$50.00
$443
$100
$887
$500
$4,433
$1,000
$8,867
$5,000
$44,333
$10,000
$88,665
$100,000
$886,652
$1,000,000
$8,866,517
Inflation by spending category, 1953–2014
Between 1953 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 2416.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.9%, against 786.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.64%
$887
Medical care
5.43%
$2,516
Food
3.59%
$858
Transportation
3.50%
$815
Apparel
1.79%
$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 2014
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 1953–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$887
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $373 by
1983, on its way to $887 in 2014; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1953 had the buying
power of $887; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1953 to 2014: $100 is worth $887 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-2014/