$100 in 1954 is worth $183 in 1974,
because prices increased 83.3% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$183
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
83.3%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$183
Price difference ($100 base)
$83.27
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1954 → 1974
$183
$100 in 1974 → 1954
$54.56
What happened to prices between 1954 and 1974
Between 1954 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 83.3%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.55 buys in 1974: the 1954 dollar
lost 45.4% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 1974 at the same ratio, 1.83: $1,000 becomes
$1,833, and $10,000 becomes $18,327.
Amount in 1954
Value in 1974
$1.00
$1.83
$5.00
$9.16
$10.00
$18.33
$20.00
$36.65
$50.00
$91.64
$100
$183
$500
$916
$1,000
$1,833
$5,000
$9,164
$10,000
$18,327
$100,000
$183,271
$1,000,000
$1,832,714
Inflation by spending category, 1954–1974
Between 1954 and 1974, medical care rose the most, up 138.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 61.0%, against 83.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$183
Medical care
4.44%
$238
Food
3.41%
$195
Transportation
2.85%
$175
Apparel
2.41%
$161
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 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1954–1974 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
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$183
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $115 by
1964, on its way to $183 in 1974; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $183; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 1974: $100 is worth $183 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1974/