$100 in 1951 is worth $617 in 1997,
because prices increased 517.3% over that period, an average of
4.04% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$617
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
517.3%
Average inflation rate
4.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$617
Price difference ($100 base)
$517
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1951 → 1997
$617
$100 in 1997 → 1951
$16.20
What happened to prices between 1951 and 1997
Between 1951 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 517.3%, which works out to an average of
4.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1997: the 1951 dollar
lost 83.8% of its purchasing power over
these 46 years.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
Every 1951 amount converts to 1997 at the same ratio, 6.17: $1,000 becomes
$6,173, and $10,000 becomes $61,731.
Amount in 1951
Value in 1997
$1.00
$6.17
$5.00
$30.87
$10.00
$61.73
$20.00
$123
$50.00
$309
$100
$617
$500
$3,087
$1,000
$6,173
$5,000
$30,865
$10,000
$61,731
$100,000
$617,308
$1,000,000
$6,173,077
Inflation by spending category, 1951–1997
Between 1951 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 1375.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 202.7%, against 517.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.04%
$617
Medical care
6.03%
$1,475
Transportation
3.97%
$599
Food
3.81%
$558
Apparel
2.44%
$303
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1951: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1951 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.45% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1951–1997 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1951, at end
1951–1960
1.45%
13.8%
$114
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$149
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$317
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$503
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$617
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $171 by
1973, on its way to $617 in 1997; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $617; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1951 to 1997: $100 is worth $617 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1997/