RPI inflation, 1955 to July 2026

£100 in 1955 is £3,834 today

That £100 bought 357 dozen eggs in 1955. Today it buys 42.

Prices up 3,734%5.2% a year on averageMultiply by 38.34

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

It takes 38.3 of today's pounds to match one from 1955

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What £100 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	1955	Today
dozen eggslagged inflation28p then, about £2.38 today	357	42
pints of milklagged inflation3p then, about 70p today	3,448	144
Same money, adjusted for inflation	£100	£3,834

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

£1,928 → £278,784

Up 144.6×, against 38.3× for prices generally