$100 in 1953 is worth $227 in 1977,
because prices increased 127.0% over that period, an average of
3.47% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$227
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
127.0%
Average inflation rate
3.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$227
Price difference ($100 base)
$127
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1953 → 1977
$227
$100 in 1977 → 1953
$44.06
What happened to prices between 1953 and 1977
Between 1953 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 127.0%, which works out to an average of
3.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1977: the 1953 dollar
lost 55.9% of its purchasing power over
these 24 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% in 1953, down from 1952’s 1.9% as
fighting in Korea wound toward a truce and three years of wartime buying
pressure finally eased. The year’s biggest shock came from Moscow: Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin died March 5 after nearly three decades in power, the
first change of Soviet leadership since the 1920s, opening a period of
uncertainty over how his successors would deal with the West. Washington
used the calmer backdrop to unwind its own wartime machinery. Authority
for the price and wage controls imposed in 1951 lapsed that spring, as the
Eisenhower administration, which favored free markets over controls, wound
down the Office of Price Stabilization. The war itself ended, on paper,
that July: negotiators signed an armistice July 27 at Panmunjom, halting
the fighting roughly along the original border near the 38th parallel. No
formal peace treaty ever followed, and North and South Korea remain
technically at war. Consumer prices finished 1953 169.7% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1953 amount converts to 1977 at the same ratio, 2.27: $1,000 becomes
$2,270, and $10,000 becomes $22,697.
Amount in 1953
Value in 1977
$1.00
$2.27
$5.00
$11.35
$10.00
$22.70
$20.00
$45.39
$50.00
$113
$100
$227
$500
$1,135
$1,000
$2,270
$5,000
$11,348
$10,000
$22,697
$100,000
$226,966
$1,000,000
$2,269,663
Inflation by spending category, 1953–1977
Between 1953 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 229.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 82.4%, against 127.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.47%
$227
Medical care
5.09%
$329
Food
3.56%
$231
Transportation
3.39%
$223
Apparel
2.54%
$182
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1953: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1953 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.48% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1953–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1953, at end
1953–1960
1.48%
10.9%
$111
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$145
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$227
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $118 by
1965, on its way to $227 in 1977; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1953 had the buying
power of $227; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1953 to 1977: $100 is worth $227 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-1977/