$100 in 1954 is worth $854 in 2012,
because prices increased 753.5% over that period, an average of
3.77% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$854
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
753.5%
Average inflation rate
3.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$854
Price difference ($100 base)
$754
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1954 → 2012
$854
$100 in 2012 → 1954
$11.72
What happened to prices between 1954 and 2012
Between 1954 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 753.5%, which works out to an average of
3.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2012: the 1954 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 2012 at the same ratio, 8.54: $1,000 becomes
$8,535, and $10,000 becomes $85,351.
Amount in 1954
Value in 2012
$1.00
$8.54
$5.00
$42.68
$10.00
$85.35
$20.00
$171
$50.00
$427
$100
$854
$500
$4,268
$1,000
$8,535
$5,000
$42,675
$10,000
$85,351
$100,000
$853,509
$1,000,000
$8,535,093
Inflation by spending category, 1954–2012
Between 1954 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 2231.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 193.0%, against 753.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.77%
$854
Medical care
5.58%
$2,331
Transportation
3.72%
$833
Food
3.71%
$829
Apparel
1.87%
$293
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 2012
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 1954–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$854
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $359 by
1982, on its way to $854 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $854; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 2012: $100 is worth $854 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2012/