Value of a dollar in 1950: what it is worth today
One dollar of 1950, at the CPI-U annual average, carried to September 2026. Change the amount or the year.
In September 2026 dollars
$1,398.09
$100.00 at 1950 prices (annual average), U.S. city average.
| Prices since | +1,298 % |
| Average per year | +3.52 % |
| What $100.00 today buys at 1950 prices | $7.15 |
| Index 1950 | 24.1 |
Prepared by Radif Partners · How the figures are built · CPI-U U.S. city average, 1950 annual average
One dollar of 1950 had the buying power of $13.98 in September 2026, on the CPI-U for the U.S. city average. The 1950 annual average of the index was 24.1; the latest month stands at 336.94, so prices have risen 1,298 %, an average of 3.52 % a year over more than seven decades. Today's dollar buys what $0.07 bought in 1950. The year itself is a trap for anyone who uses a single month: the annual average rose only 1.3 % over 1949, yet from December 1949 to December 1950 prices climbed 5.9 %, and the next year brought 7.9 %. Taken from December 1950, a dollar is worth $13.48 today. Over the decade that followed, prices rose 22.8 % in total. 14 of today's 23 metro indexes have a 1950 annual average.
Average or December: pick before you compute
The annual average and the December index can tell different stories, and 1950 is a clear case. The index stood at 23.5 in January and 25 in December, a rise inside the year that the annual average smooths out. If your amount is a salary or a yearly budget, use the average: it is what the calculator above does. If it is a price on a dated invoice or a contract signed late in the year, use the month, with the main calculator, which takes a year and a month.
The years around 1950
The late 1940s were anything but stable. On annual averages, prices rose 8.3 % in 1946, 14.4 % in 1947 and 8.1 % in 1948, then moved -1.2 % in 1949. After the jump of 7.9 % in 1951, the middle of the decade went quiet: all five years from 1952 to 1956 stayed within 2 % either way, and 1955 saw the average price level fall.
Inflation in any year around 1950
Inflation in 1951, U.S. average
+7.9 %
| Annual average change | +7.88 % |
| December to December | +6.00 % |
| $100 of 1951 in September 2026 | $1,295.92 |
1950 to 1960 in one number
A dollar of 1950 needed $1.23 by 1960, a rise of 22.8 % or 2.08 % a year. That is a modest pace by later standards: the 1970s alone multiplied the price level by 2.12. The full year-by-year list is on the inflation rate by year page.
City indexes that reach 1950
No regional or size class index existed yet: the regions begin in December 1966, the size classes in the 1980s and 1990s. What did exist were city series that run back to the 1910s. In this site's data, 14 metro indexes have a 1950 annual average: Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Chicago; Detroit; Minneapolis-St. Paul; St. Louis; Washington, DC; Atlanta; Baltimore; Houston; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Seattle. Their 1950 rates ranged from +0.0 % in San Francisco to +3.1 % in Houston. 9 others, such as Miami, Tampa and Dallas-Fort Worth, start later and cannot price a 1950 amount.
A carried-forward 1950 amount measures the same standard of consumption, as the BLS defines it, in today's prices. It does not price any single product of the time.
$100 of 1950 in later years
| Year | What $100 of 1950 buys |
|---|---|
| 1960 | $122.82 |
| 1970 | $161.00 |
| 1980 | $341.91 |
| 1990 | $542.32 |
| 2000 | $714.52 |
| 2010 | $904.80 |
| 2020 | $1,073.90 |
| September 2026 | $1,398.09 |
Inflation in 1950, area by area
| Area | 1950 annual average change |
|---|---|
| U.S. average | +1.3 % |
| Boston | +1.3 % |
| New York | +0.4 % |
| Philadelphia | +0.8 % |
| Chicago | +0.8 % |
| Detroit | +1.7 % |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul | +0.9 % |
| St. Louis | +1.3 % |
| Washington, DC | +1.2 % |
| Atlanta | +1.3 % |
| Baltimore | +0.8 % |
| Houston | +3.1 % |
| Los Angeles | +0.4 % |
| San Francisco | +0.0 % |
| Seattle | +1.8 % |