Buying power of $2 in 1952

This chart shows calculation of buying power equivalence, often referred to as "the value of a dollar" over time for $2 in 1952 (price index tracking began in 1635).

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:

Inflation by City

Inflation can vary widely by city, even within the United States. Here's how some cities fared in 1952 to 2015 (figures shown are purchasing power equivalents of $2):

• San Francisco, California: 3.80% average rate, $2 → $21.01, cumulative change of 950.43%
• Boston, Massachusetts: 3.70% average rate, $2 → $19.71, cumulative change of 885.26%
• Seattle, Washington: 3.68% average rate, $2 → $19.55, cumulative change of 877.37%
• New York: 3.67% average rate, $2 → $19.37, cumulative change of 868.62%
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 3.52% average rate, $2 → $17.73, cumulative change of 786.73%
• Chicago, Illinois: 3.46% average rate, $2 → $17.05, cumulative change of 752.36%
• Houston, Texas: 3.43% average rate, $2 → $16.69, cumulative change of 734.73%
• Atlanta, Georgia: 3.40% average rate, $2 → $16.43, cumulative change of 721.30%
• Detroit, Michigan: 3.37% average rate, $2 → $16.13, cumulative change of 706.39%

San Francisco, California experienced the highest rate of inflation during the 63 years between 1952 and 2015 (3.80%).

Detroit, Michigan experienced the lowest rate of inflation during the 63 years between 1952 and 2015 (3.37%).

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 £2.00 in 1952 would be equivalent to £51.91 in 2015, an absolute change of £49.91 and a cumulative change of 2,495.42%.

In Canada, CA$2.00 in 1952 would be equivalent to CA$17.94 in 2015, an absolute change of CA$15.94 and a cumulative change of 797.16%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $15.89 and total percent change of 794.40%.

Inflation by Spending Category

CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1952 and 2015.

Compare these values to the overall average of 3.54% per year:

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 1952. This table and charts use the earliest available data for each category.

How to Calculate Inflation Rate for $2, 1952 to 2015

This inflation calculator uses the following inflation rate formula:

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.S. CPI was 26.5 in the year 1952 and 237.017 in 2015:

$2 in 1952 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $17.89 in 2015.

To get the total inflation rate for the 63 years between 1952 and 2015, we use the following formula:

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

Comparison to S&P 500 Index

The average inflation rate of 3.54% has a compounding effect between 1952 and 2015. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 794.40% over 63 years.

To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $2 in the S&P 500 index in 1952, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $1,192.30 in 2015. This is a return on investment of 59,514.82%, with an absolute return of $1,190.30 on top of the original $2.

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 88.82% of returns ($1,058.99) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $2 investment is $131.31. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $112 for most people.

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 1952 to latest available data for 2015.

News headlines from 1952

Politics and news often influence economic performance. Here's what was happening at the time:

• Queen Elizabeth II's succeeds King George VI to the British throne.
• The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis of modern computers, is published for the first time by Geoffrey Dummer.

Data Source & Citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI), established in 1913. Inflation data from 1665 to 1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University.

» Read more about inflation and investment.