pound.one

RPI inflation, 1950 to August 2026

£1,000 in 1950 is £50,370 today

That £1,000 bought 5,000 dozen eggs in 1950. Today it buys 419.

Prices up 4,937%5.3% a year on averageMultiply by 50.37

Measured with the Retail Prices Index, the only official series that runs back to 1948. Use CPI instead.

×50 £1 in 1950£50.37 today
It takes 50.4 of today's pounds to match one from 1950
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What £1,000 buys

Official average shop prices, not a basket. Things marked as outrunning inflation got dearer faster than everything else; things that lagged got relatively cheaper.

Item1950Today
dozen eggslagged inflation20p then, about £2.39 today5,000419
pints of milklagged inflation2p then, about 70p today47,6191,429
Same money, adjusted for inflation£1,000£50,370

The ONS stopped publishing these average prices in January 2025. Today's figures are that last reading moved on with inflation, so treat them as close rather than exact.