RPI inflation, 1953 to July 2026

£1.00 in 1953 is £40.77 today

That £1.00 bought 3.6 dozen eggs in 1953. Today it buys 0.42.

Prices up 3,977%5.2% a year on averageMultiply by 40.77

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

It takes 40.8 of today's pounds to match one from 1953

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What £1.00 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.

Item	1953	Today
dozen eggslagged inflation28p then, about £2.38 today	3.6	0.42
pints of milklagged inflation3p then, about 70p today	34	1.4
Same money, adjusted for inflation	£1.00	£40.77

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.

Houses and wages

Inflation is one story. What people earned, and what a home cost, are the other two.

Average house

£1,884 → £278,784

Up 148.0×, against 40.8× for prices generally