$100 in 1954 is worth $726 in 2005,
because prices increased 626.0% over that period, an average of
3.96% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$726
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
626.0%
Average inflation rate
3.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$726
Price difference ($100 base)
$626
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1954 → 2005
$726
$100 in 2005 → 1954
$13.77
What happened to prices between 1954 and 2005
Between 1954 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 626.0%, which works out to an average of
3.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2005: the 1954 dollar
lost 86.2% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2005 at the same ratio, 7.26: $1,000 becomes
$7,260, and $10,000 becomes $72,602.
Amount in 1954
Value in 2005
$1.00
$7.26
$5.00
$36.30
$10.00
$72.60
$20.00
$145
$50.00
$363
$100
$726
$500
$3,630
$1,000
$7,260
$5,000
$36,301
$10,000
$72,602
$100,000
$726,022
$1,000,000
$7,260,223
Inflation by spending category, 1954–2005
Between 1954 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 1715.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 177.3%, against 626.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.96%
$726
Medical care
5.85%
$1,816
Food
3.82%
$676
Transportation
3.79%
$666
Apparel
2.02%
$277
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 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1954–2005 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$306
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$486
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$640
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$726
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $306 by
1980, on its way to $726 in 2005; 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: 2005
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $726; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 2005: $100 is worth $726 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2005/