$100 in 1954 is worth $881 in 2015,
because prices increased 781.1% over that period, an average of
3.63% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$881
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
781.1%
Average inflation rate
3.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$881
Price difference ($100 base)
$781
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1954 → 2015
$881
$100 in 2015 → 1954
$11.35
What happened to prices between 1954 and 2015
Between 1954 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 781.1%, which works out to an average of
3.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2015: the 1954 dollar
lost 88.7% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 2015 at the same ratio, 8.81: $1,000 becomes
$8,811, and $10,000 becomes $88,110.
Amount in 1954
Value in 2015
$1.00
$8.81
$5.00
$44.06
$10.00
$88.11
$20.00
$176
$50.00
$441
$100
$881
$500
$4,406
$1,000
$8,811
$5,000
$44,055
$10,000
$88,110
$100,000
$881,104
$1,000,000
$8,811,041
Inflation by spending category, 1954–2015
Between 1954 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 2409.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 192.1%, against 781.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.63%
$881
Medical care
5.43%
$2,510
Food
3.62%
$877
Transportation
3.39%
$763
Apparel
1.77%
$292
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 2015
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 1954–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$881
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $386 by
1984, on its way to $881 in 2015; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $881; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 2015: $100 is worth $881 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-2015/