$100 in 1955 is worth $869 in 2013,
because prices increased 769.2% over that period, an average of
3.80% a year.
$100 in 1955 has
the same buying power as
$869
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
769.2%
Average inflation rate
3.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$869
Price difference ($100 base)
$769
CPI in 1955
26.8
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1955
-0.37%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1955 → 2013
$869
$100 in 2013 → 1955
$11.50
What happened to prices between 1955 and 2013
Between 1955 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.8 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 769.2%, which works out to an average of
3.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1955 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2013: the 1955 dollar
lost 88.5% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 2013 at the same ratio, 8.69: $1,000 becomes
$8,692, and $10,000 becomes $86,924.
Amount in 1955
Value in 2013
$1.00
$8.69
$5.00
$43.46
$10.00
$86.92
$20.00
$174
$50.00
$435
$100
$869
$500
$4,346
$1,000
$8,692
$5,000
$43,462
$10,000
$86,924
$100,000
$869,243
$1,000,000
$8,692,425
Inflation by spending category, 1955–2013
Between 1955 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 2235.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 197.0%, against 769.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1955
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1955 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.80%
$869
Medical care
5.58%
$2,336
Food
3.76%
$853
Transportation
3.74%
$843
Apparel
1.89%
$297
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 2013
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 1955–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$814
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$869
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1955
$100 from 1955 had already become $372 by
1983, on its way to $869 in 2013; 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 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1955 had the buying
power of $869; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1955 to 2013: $100 is worth $869 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1955 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-2013/