$100 in 1956 is worth $223 in 1977,
because prices increased 122.8% over that period, an average of
3.89% a year.
$100 in 1956 has
the same buying power as
$223
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
122.8%
Average inflation rate
3.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$223
Price difference ($100 base)
$123
CPI in 1956
27.2
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1956
1.49%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1956 → 1977
$223
$100 in 1977 → 1956
$44.88
What happened to prices between 1956 and 1977
Between 1956 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 27.2 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 122.8%, which works out to an average of
3.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1956 bought what
$0.45 buys in 1977: the 1956 dollar
lost 55.1% of its purchasing power over
these 21 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1956, a return to mild inflation after they had
fallen 0.4% in 1955, the only annual decline of the decade. The two years sat
in the calmest stretch of the postwar index, a lull between the Korean War
price surge earlier in the 1950s and the acceleration that would return in
the 1970s. Congress had already raised the wage floor into that calm: the
Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1955, signed the previous August, took
effect March 1 and lifted the federal minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an
hour, the first increase since 1950. Eisenhower signed a longer-lasting
commitment on June 29, the Federal-Aid Highway Act, funding 41,000 miles of
controlled-access highway at 90% federal cost to build the Interstate
System, the largest public-works program the country had undertaken. He won
a second term that November, carrying 41 states and about 57% of the
popular vote in a rematch against Adlai Stevenson. Abroad, the Suez Crisis
broke the calm on the supply side: Egypt nationalized the canal on July 26,
and after Israel invaded the Sinai on October 29 with British and French
forces following, the canal’s closure and damaged pipelines squeezed oil
shipments to Western Europe for months. Consumer prices stood 174.7% above
their 1913 level by 1956, up 94% since 1940
alone, even after a decade that had barely moved the index. First-class
postage held at 3 cents, unchanged since 1932.
Every 1956 amount converts to 1977 at the same ratio, 2.23: $1,000 becomes
$2,228, and $10,000 becomes $22,279.
Amount in 1956
Value in 1977
$1.00
$2.23
$5.00
$11.14
$10.00
$22.28
$20.00
$44.56
$50.00
$111
$100
$223
$500
$1,114
$1,000
$2,228
$5,000
$11,140
$10,000
$22,279
$100,000
$222,794
$1,000,000
$2,227,941
Inflation by spending category, 1956–1977
Between 1956 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 201.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 79.9%, against 122.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1956
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1956 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.89%
$223
Medical care
5.40%
$302
Food
4.13%
$234
Transportation
3.94%
$225
Apparel
2.83%
$180
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1956: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1956 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.14% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1956–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1956, at end
1956–1960
2.14%
8.8%
$109
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$143
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$223
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1956
$100 from 1956 had already become $119 by
1966, on its way to $223 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 1956 had the buying
power of $223; 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 1956 to 1977: $100 is worth $223 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1956 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-1977/