$100 in 1954 is worth $880 in 2014,
because prices increased 780.1% over that period, an average of
3.69% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$880
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
780.1%
Average inflation rate
3.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$880
Price difference ($100 base)
$780
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1954 → 2014
$880
$100 in 2014 → 1954
$11.36
What happened to prices between 1954 and 2014
Between 1954 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 780.1%, which works out to an average of
3.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2014: the 1954 dollar
lost 88.6% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 2014 at the same ratio, 8.80: $1,000 becomes
$8,801, and $10,000 becomes $88,006.
Amount in 1954
Value in 2014
$1.00
$8.80
$5.00
$44.00
$10.00
$88.01
$20.00
$176
$50.00
$440
$100
$880
$500
$4,400
$1,000
$8,801
$5,000
$44,003
$10,000
$88,006
$100,000
$880,059
$1,000,000
$8,800,595
Inflation by spending category, 1954–2014
Between 1954 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 2345.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.9%, against 780.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.69%
$880
Medical care
5.47%
$2,445
Food
3.65%
$861
Transportation
3.58%
$827
Apparel
1.82%
$296
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 2014
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 1954–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$880
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $386 by
1984, on its way to $880 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $880; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 2014: $100 is worth $880 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2014/