Value of a Dollar in 1950
A 1950 dollar met the Korean War price spike first, then one of the calmest stretches for prices in the record.
More optionsYear average → today (August 2026)
A month compares month to month, as BLS’s own calculator does.
Worth in
$1 in 1950 is worth
$13.90in August 2026
Prices rose 1290.0% in between, so $1 of 1950 goods costs $13.90 in August 2026.
The price of $1 of 1950 goods, year by year
- Total inflation
- +1290.0%
- Average a year
- 3.52%
- $1 of cash now buys
- $0.07 of 1950 goods
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice. Terms
How this works: Method, 6 sources, Checked against 1 worked example,
How this works
Method
A dollar from 1950 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1950. For 1950 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works. Full method
Sources
How it’s tested
One worked example for this page is checked by automated tests before every release: given the inputs, the tool must show the expected answer.
Limits
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice.
Changes
- First version: what a dollar is worth from 1913 to August 2026, your own inflation rate, whether a raise beat inflation, the current rate, the rate by year and 12 year pages.
$1 from 1950, worked out
The CPI-U averaged 24.1 in 1950 and 334.980 in August 2026. Divide the two: 334.980 ÷ 24.1 = 13.900, so $1 of 1950 goods costs $13.90 now. The same factor scales any amount: $1,000 in 1950 is $13,900 today, a total rise of 1290% or 3.52% a year over 76 years.
Prices in the 1950s
The CPI averaged 24.1 in 1950. The Korean War, which broke out that June, set off a short burst of inflation: the 12-month rate reached 9.4% in February 1951, and the annual average rose 7.9% in 1951.
In March 1951 the Treasury-Fed Accord ended the Fed’s wartime promise to keep interest rates low, giving it back control of them. William McChesney Martin chaired the Fed from April 1951 to January 1970, and most of his tenure had low, stable inflation with generally robust growth.
The numbers show it. From 1952 to 1960 the CPI rose 1.4% a year on average, and in 1954 and 1955 the annual average did not rise at all. Over the decade a 1950 dollar lost about a fifth of its buying power, against more than half in the 1970s.
- The CPI’s 12-month rate reached 9.4% in February 1951 during the Korean War, which began in June 1950. Source: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0).
- The Treasury-Fed Accord of March 1951 gave the Federal Reserve back control over interest rates. Source: Federal Reserve History, From the Accord to the mid-1960s.
- From 1952 to 1960 the CPI rose 1.4% a year on average. Source: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0).
How the value of a dollar is worked out
A dollar from 1950 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1950. For 1950 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works.
The index is the CPI-U, all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted: the series BLS publishes back to 1913. It measures the prices urban consumers pay, so it says what a dollar buys, not what an investment earned.
value now = amount × CPI(August 2026) ÷ CPI(1950)
$1 from 1950 in later years
What $1 of 1950 goods cost in each later year (annual averages), with that year’s inflation; the last row is the latest month.
| Year | CPI-U | $1 from 1950 | Inflation that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 24.1 | $1 | +1.3% |
| 1955 | 26.8 | $1.11 | 0.0% |
| 1960 | 29.6 | $1.23 | +1.7% |
| 1965 | 31.5 | $1.31 | +1.6% |
| 1970 | 38.8 | $1.61 | +5.7% |
| 1975 | 53.8 | $2.23 | +9.1% |
| 1980 | 82.4 | $3.42 | +13.5% |
| 1985 | 107.6 | $4.46 | +3.6% |
| 1990 | 130.7 | $5.42 | +5.4% |
| 1995 | 152.4 | $6.32 | +2.8% |
Show all 17 rowsShow fewer
| 2000 | 172.2 | $7.15 | +3.4% |
| 2005 | 195.3 | $8.10 | +3.4% |
| 2010 | 218.056 | $9.05 | +1.6% |
| 2015 | 237.017 | $9.83 | +0.1% |
| 2020 | 258.811 | $10.74 | +1.2% |
| 2025 | 321.943 | $13.36 | +2.6% |
| August 2026 | 334.980 | $13.90 | +3.4% (12 months) |
Data: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0) · BLS, CPI-U all items, seasonally adjusted (CUSR0000SA0) · BLS, Consumer Price Index data · BLS, Relative importance of CPI components, December 2025 · BLS, Average hourly earnings, total private (CES0500000003). Inflation calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was inflation so low in the 1950s?
After the Korean War burst, the Federal Reserve, free since the 1951 Accord to set interest rates for the economy rather than for war finance, kept inflation low and stable under William McChesney Martin.
What was $1 from 1950 worth in 1960?
About $1.23. Prices rose 23% over the decade, much of it in 1951.
What is $1,000 from 1950 worth today?
About $13,900 in August 2026 prices: the same goods cost 13.9 times as much now.