$100 in 1954 is worth $811 in 2010,
because prices increased 710.6% over that period, an average of
3.81% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$811
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
710.6%
Average inflation rate
3.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$811
Price difference ($100 base)
$711
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1954 → 2010
$811
$100 in 2010 → 1954
$12.34
What happened to prices between 1954 and 2010
Between 1954 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 710.6%, which works out to an average of
3.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2010: the 1954 dollar
lost 87.7% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 2010 at the same ratio, 8.11: $1,000 becomes
$8,106, and $10,000 becomes $81,062.
Amount in 1954
Value in 2010
$1.00
$8.11
$5.00
$40.53
$10.00
$81.06
$20.00
$162
$50.00
$405
$100
$811
$500
$4,053
$1,000
$8,106
$5,000
$40,531
$10,000
$81,062
$100,000
$810,617
$1,000,000
$8,106,171
Inflation by spending category, 1954–2010
Between 1954 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 2082.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 177.3%, against 710.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.81%
$811
Medical care
5.66%
$2,182
Food
3.73%
$779
Transportation
3.64%
$741
Apparel
1.84%
$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 2010
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 1954–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$811
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $359 by
1982, on its way to $811 in 2010; 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: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $811; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 2010: $100 is worth $811 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2010/