$100 in 1954 is worth $597 in 1997,
because prices increased 496.7% over that period, an average of
4.24% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$597
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
496.7%
Average inflation rate
4.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$597
Price difference ($100 base)
$497
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1954 → 1997
$597
$100 in 1997 → 1954
$16.76
What happened to prices between 1954 and 1997
Between 1954 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 496.7%, which works out to an average of
4.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1997: the 1954 dollar
lost 83.2% of its purchasing power over
these 43 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1954 amount converts to 1997 at the same ratio, 5.97: $1,000 becomes
$5,967, and $10,000 becomes $59,665.
Amount in 1954
Value in 1997
$1.00
$5.97
$5.00
$29.83
$10.00
$59.67
$20.00
$119
$50.00
$298
$100
$597
$500
$2,983
$1,000
$5,967
$5,000
$29,833
$10,000
$59,665
$100,000
$596,654
$1,000,000
$5,966,543
Inflation by spending category, 1954–1997
Between 1954 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 1218.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 208.4%, against 496.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.24%
$597
Medical care
6.18%
$1,318
Food
4.08%
$558
Transportation
4.06%
$553
Apparel
2.65%
$308
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1954: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1954 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1954–1997 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1954, at end
1954–1960
1.61%
10.0%
$110
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$144
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$306
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$486
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$597
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $212 by
1976, on its way to $597 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 1954 had the buying
power of $597; 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 1954 to 1997: $100 is worth $597 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1997/