$100 in 1954 is worth $151 in 1971,
because prices increased 50.6% over that period, an average of
2.44% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$151
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
50.6%
Average inflation rate
2.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$151
Price difference ($100 base)
$50.56
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1954 → 1971
$151
$100 in 1971 → 1954
$66.42
What happened to prices between 1954 and 1971
Between 1954 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 50.6%, which works out to an average of
2.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.66 buys in 1971: the 1954 dollar
lost 33.6% of its purchasing power over
these 17 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1954 amount converts to 1971 at the same ratio, 1.51: $1,000 becomes
$1,506, and $10,000 becomes $15,056.
Amount in 1954
Value in 1971
$1.00
$1.51
$5.00
$7.53
$10.00
$15.06
$20.00
$30.11
$50.00
$75.28
$100
$151
$500
$753
$1,000
$1,506
$5,000
$7,528
$10,000
$15,056
$100,000
$150,558
$1,000,000
$1,505,576
Inflation by spending category, 1954–1971
Between 1954 and 1971, medical care rose the most, up 102.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 41.8%, against 50.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.44%
$151
Medical care
4.25%
$203
Transportation
2.47%
$151
Food
2.14%
$143
Apparel
2.07%
$142
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1954: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1954 to 1971
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 4.38% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1954–1971 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1954, at end
1954–1960
1.61%
10.0%
$110
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$144
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$151
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $112 by
1962, on its way to $151 in 1971; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.7% in 1970, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $151; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 1971: $100 is worth $151 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1971/