$100 in 1955 is worth $226 in 1977,
because prices increased 126.1% over that period, an average of
3.78% a year.
$100 in 1955 has
the same buying power as
$226
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
126.1%
Average inflation rate
3.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$226
Price difference ($100 base)
$126
CPI in 1955
26.8
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1955
-0.37%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1955 → 1977
$226
$100 in 1977 → 1955
$44.22
What happened to prices between 1955 and 1977
Between 1955 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.8 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 126.1%, which works out to an average of
3.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1955 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1977: the 1955 dollar
lost 55.8% of its purchasing power over
these 22 years.
Consumer prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the first annual decline since 1949,
as a strong rebound from the 1953-54 recession delivered growth without
much price pressure; automakers and appliance makers competed hard on
price for a booming consumer market. Organized labor consolidated that
December, when the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of
Industrial Organizations merged on the 5th under President George Meany,
uniting roughly 15 million workers in the AFL-CIO after two decades as
rival federations. That same day, a different kind of organizing began in
Montgomery, Alabama: four days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing
to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, the city’s Black community
began a boycott of its buses that would last more than a year and help
launch the civil rights movement’s mass phase. Markets got a scare that
September: news of Eisenhower’s heart attack on the 24th sent the Dow
Jones Industrial Average to its steepest one-day drop since the 1929
crash when trading resumed that Monday, before stocks recovered as the
president’s health improved. Consumer prices finished 1955 170.7% above
their 1913 level, essentially unchanged from where they
stood a year earlier. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1955 amount converts to 1977 at the same ratio, 2.26: $1,000 becomes
$2,261, and $10,000 becomes $22,612.
Amount in 1955
Value in 1977
$1.00
$2.26
$5.00
$11.31
$10.00
$22.61
$20.00
$45.22
$50.00
$113
$100
$226
$500
$1,131
$1,000
$2,261
$5,000
$11,306
$10,000
$22,612
$100,000
$226,119
$1,000,000
$2,261,194
Inflation by spending category, 1955–1977
Between 1955 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 213.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 83.2%, against 126.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1955
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1955 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.78%
$226
Medical care
5.33%
$313
Food
3.97%
$236
Transportation
3.83%
$229
Apparel
2.79%
$183
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1955: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1955 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.01% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1955–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1955, at end
1955–1960
2.01%
10.4%
$110
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$145
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$226
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1955
$100 from 1955 had already become $121 by
1966, on its way to $226 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 the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1955 had the buying
power of $226; 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 1955 to 1977: $100 is worth $226 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1955 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-1977/