$100 in 1955 is worth $643 in 2000,
because prices increased 542.5% over that period, an average of
4.22% a year.
$100 in 1955 has
the same buying power as
$643
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
542.5%
Average inflation rate
4.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$643
Price difference ($100 base)
$543
CPI in 1955
26.8
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1955
-0.37%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1955 → 2000
$643
$100 in 2000 → 1955
$15.56
What happened to prices between 1955 and 2000
Between 1955 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.8 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 542.5%, which works out to an average of
4.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1955 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2000: the 1955 dollar
lost 84.4% of its purchasing power over
these 45 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 2000 at the same ratio, 6.43: $1,000 becomes
$6,425, and $10,000 becomes $64,254.
Amount in 1955
Value in 2000
$1.00
$6.43
$5.00
$32.13
$10.00
$64.25
$20.00
$129
$50.00
$321
$100
$643
$500
$3,213
$1,000
$6,425
$5,000
$32,127
$10,000
$64,254
$100,000
$642,537
$1,000,000
$6,425,373
Inflation by spending category, 1955–2000
Between 1955 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1333.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 202.1%, against 542.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1955
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1955 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.22%
$643
Medical care
6.09%
$1,433
Food
4.08%
$604
Transportation
4.04%
$594
Apparel
2.49%
$302
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 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.01% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1955–2000 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$307
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$488
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$643
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1955
$100 from 1955 had already become $226 by
1977, on its way to $643 in 2000; 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 the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1955 had the buying
power of $643; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1955 to 2000: $100 is worth $643 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1955 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-2000/