$20,000 in 1955 is worth $187,485.07 in 2018

Value of $20,000 from 1955 to 2018

$20,000 in 1955 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $187,485.07 in 2018, an increase of $167,485.07 over 63 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.62% per year between 1955 and 2018, producing a cumulative price increase of 837.43%.

This means that prices in 2018 are 9.37 times as high as average prices since 1955, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index.

The inflation rate in 1955 was -0.37%. The inflation rate in 2018 was 2.49%. The 2018 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 3.58% per year between 2018 and 2024.


Inflation from 1955 to 2018
Cumulative price change837.43%
Average inflation rate3.62%
Converted amount
$20,000 base
$187,485.07
Price difference
$20,000 base
$167,485.07
CPI in 195526.800
CPI in 2018251.230
Inflation in 1955-0.37%
Inflation in 20182.49%
$20,000 in 1955$187,485.07 in 2018

USD inflation since 1955
Annual Rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of $20,000 in 1955

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for $20,000 in 1955 (price index tracking began in 1635).

For example, if you started with $20,000, you would need to end with $187,485.07 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When $20,000 is equivalent to $187,485.07 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single U.S. dollar decreases over time. In other words, a dollar will pay for fewer items at the store.

This effect explains how inflation erodes the value of a dollar over time. By calculating the value in 1955 dollars, the chart below shows how $20,000 is worth less over 63 years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, each of these USD amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

Dollar inflation: 1955-2018
YearDollar ValueInflation Rate
1955$20,000.00-0.37%
1956$20,298.511.49%
1957$20,970.153.31%
1958$21,567.162.85%
1959$21,716.420.69%
1960$22,089.551.72%
1961$22,313.431.01%
1962$22,537.311.00%
1963$22,835.821.32%
1964$23,134.331.31%
1965$23,507.461.61%
1966$24,179.102.86%
1967$24,925.373.09%
1968$25,970.154.19%
1969$27,388.065.46%
1970$28,955.225.72%
1971$30,223.884.38%
1972$31,194.033.21%
1973$33,134.336.22%
1974$36,791.0411.04%
1975$40,149.259.13%
1976$42,462.695.76%
1977$45,223.886.50%
1978$48,656.727.59%
1979$54,179.1011.35%
1980$61,492.5413.50%
1981$67,835.8210.32%
1982$72,014.936.16%
1983$74,328.363.21%
1984$77,537.314.32%
1985$80,298.513.56%
1986$81,791.041.86%
1987$84,776.123.65%
1988$88,283.584.14%
1989$92,537.314.82%
1990$97,537.315.40%
1991$101,641.794.21%
1992$104,701.493.01%
1993$107,835.822.99%
1994$110,597.012.56%
1995$113,731.342.83%
1996$117,089.552.95%
1997$119,776.122.29%
1998$121,641.791.56%
1999$124,328.362.21%
2000$128,507.463.36%
2001$132,164.182.85%
2002$134,253.731.58%
2003$137,313.432.28%
2004$140,970.152.66%
2005$145,746.273.39%
2006$150,447.763.23%
2007$154,732.842.85%
2008$160,673.883.84%
2009$160,102.24-0.36%
2010$162,728.361.64%
2011$167,864.933.16%
2012$171,338.812.07%
2013$173,848.511.46%
2014$176,668.661.62%
2015$176,878.360.12%
2016$179,109.701.26%
2017$182,925.372.13%
2018$187,485.072.49%
2019$190,789.181.76%
2020$193,143.031.23%
2021$202,216.544.70%
2022$218,399.888.00%
2023$227,389.684.12%
2024$231,586.571.85%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 57 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1955 amounts in 2018 dollars, based on the 837.43% change in prices:

Conversion: 1955 dollars in 2018
Initial valueEquivalent value
$1 dollar in 1955$9.37 dollars in 2018
$5 dollars in 1955$46.87 dollars in 2018
$10 dollars in 1955$93.74 dollars in 2018
$50 dollars in 1955$468.71 dollars in 2018
$100 dollars in 1955$937.43 dollars in 2018
$500 dollars in 1955$4,687.13 dollars in 2018
$1,000 dollars in 1955$9,374.25 dollars in 2018
$5,000 dollars in 1955$46,871.27 dollars in 2018
$10,000 dollars in 1955$93,742.54 dollars in 2018
$50,000 dollars in 1955$468,712.69 dollars in 2018
$100,000 dollars in 1955$937,425.37 dollars in 2018
$500,000 dollars in 1955$4,687,126.87 dollars in 2018
$1,000,000 dollars in 1955$9,374,253.73 dollars in 2018

Inflation by City

Inflation can vary widely by city, even within the United States. Here's how some cities fared in 1955 to 2018 (figures shown are purchasing power equivalents of $20,000):

  • San Francisco, California: 3.95% average rate, $20,000 → $229,154.48, cumulative change of 1,045.77%
  • Seattle, Washington: 3.80% average rate, $20,000 → $209,171.10, cumulative change of 945.86%
  • Boston, Massachusetts: 3.80% average rate, $20,000 → $209,131.56, cumulative change of 945.66%
  • New York: 3.74% average rate, $20,000 → $202,072.98, cumulative change of 910.36%
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 3.56% average rate, $20,000 → $180,707.42, cumulative change of 803.54%
  • Houston, Texas: 3.52% average rate, $20,000 → $176,518.16, cumulative change of 782.59%
  • Atlanta, Georgia: 3.51% average rate, $20,000 → $176,076.76, cumulative change of 780.38%
  • Chicago, Illinois: 3.48% average rate, $20,000 → $172,615.73, cumulative change of 763.08%
  • Detroit, Michigan: 3.43% average rate, $20,000 → $167,765.43, cumulative change of 738.83%

San Francisco, California experienced the highest rate of inflation during the 63 years between 1955 and 2018 (3.95%).

Detroit, Michigan experienced the lowest rate of inflation during the 63 years between 1955 and 2018 (3.43%).

Note that some locations showing 0% inflation may have not yet reported latest data.


Inflation by Country

Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £20,000.00 in 1955 would be equivalent to £512,260.93 in 2018, an absolute change of £492,260.93 and a cumulative change of 2,461.30%.

In Canada, CA$20,000.00 in 1955 would be equivalent to CA$188,750.00 in 2018, an absolute change of CA$168,750.00 and a cumulative change of 843.75%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $167,485.07 and total percent change of 837.43%.


Inflation by Spending Category

CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. Breaking down these categories helps explain the main drivers behind price changes.

This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1955 and 2018.

Compare these values to the overall average of 3.62% per year:

CategoryAvg Inflation (%)Total Inflation (%)$20,000 in 1955 → 2018
Food and beverages3.961,053.86230,771.59
Housing4.261,285.23277,046.76
Apparel1.72193.0158,601.15
Transportation3.39717.50163,500.06
Medical care5.342,557.61531,521.81
Recreation1.0998.5439,709.00
Education and communication1.90227.0965,418.01
Other goods and services5.102,191.14458,228.50

The graph below compares inflation in categories of goods over time. Click on a category such as "Food" to toggle it on or off:

For all these visualizations, it's important to note that not all categories may have been tracked since 1955. This table and charts use the earliest available data for each category.



How to calculate inflation rate for $20,000, 1955 to 2018

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1955 and 2018:

CPI in 2018 CPI in 1955
×
1955 USD value
=
2018 USD value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.S. CPI was 26.8 in the year 1955 and 251.23 in 2018:

251.2326.8
×
$20,000
=
$187,485.07

$20,000 in 1955 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $187,485.07 in 2018.

To get the total inflation rate for the 63 years between 1955 and 2018, we use the following formula:

CPI in 2018 - CPI in 1955CPI in 1955
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (63 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

251.23 - 26.826.8
×
100
=
837%

Comparison to S&P 500 Index

The average inflation rate of 3.62% has a compounding effect between 1955 and 2018. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 837.43% over 63 years.

To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $20,000 in the S&P 500 index in 1955, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $9,910,131.52 in 2018. This is a return on investment of 49,450.66%, with an absolute return of $9,890,131.52 on top of the original $20,000.

These numbers are not inflation adjusted, so they are considered nominal. In order to evaluate the real return on our investment, we must calculate the return with inflation taken into account.

The compounding effect of inflation would account for 89.33% of returns ($8,852,966.67) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $20,000 investment is $1,037,164.85. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $881,590 for most people.

Investment in S&P 500 Index, 1955-2018
Original AmountFinal AmountChange
Nominal$20,000$9,910,131.5249,450.66%
Real
Inflation Adjusted
$20,000$1,057,164.855,185.82%

Information displayed above may differ slightly from other S&P 500 calculators. Minor discrepancies can occur because we use the latest CPI data for inflation, annualized inflation numbers for previous years, and we compute S&P price and dividends from January of 1955 to latest available data for 2018 using average monthly close price.

For more details on the S&P 500 between 1955 and 2018, see the stock market returns calculator.


Data source & citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (CPI), established in 1913. Price index data from 1774 to 1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University and from the American Antiquarian Society. Price index data from 1634 to 1773 is from the American Antiquarian Society, using British pound equivalents.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page: “$20,000 in 1955 → 2018 | Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 19 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1955-dollars-in-2018?amount=20000.

Special thanks to QuickChart for their chart image API, which is used for chart downloads.

in2013dollars.com is a reference website maintained by the Official Data Foundation.


Ian Webster

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

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» Read more about inflation and investment.

Inflation from 1955 to 2018
Cumulative price change837.43%
Average inflation rate3.62%
Converted amount
$20,000 base
$187,485.07
Price difference
$20,000 base
$167,485.07
CPI in 195526.800
CPI in 2018251.230
Inflation in 1955-0.37%
Inflation in 20182.49%
$20,000 in 1955$187,485.07 in 2018