$100 in 1956 is worth $334 in 1981,
because prices increased 234.2% over that period, an average of
4.94% a year.
$100 in 1956 has
the same buying power as
$334
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
234.2%
Average inflation rate
4.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$334
Price difference ($100 base)
$234
CPI in 1956
27.2
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1956
1.49%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1956 → 1981
$334
$100 in 1981 → 1956
$29.92
What happened to prices between 1956 and 1981
Between 1956 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 27.2 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 234.2%, which works out to an average of
4.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1956 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1981: the 1956 dollar
lost 70.1% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1981 at the same ratio, 3.34: $1,000 becomes
$3,342, and $10,000 becomes $33,419.
Amount in 1956
Value in 1981
$1.00
$3.34
$5.00
$16.71
$10.00
$33.42
$20.00
$66.84
$50.00
$167
$100
$334
$500
$1,671
$1,000
$3,342
$5,000
$16,710
$10,000
$33,419
$100,000
$334,191
$1,000,000
$3,341,912
Inflation by spending category, 1956–1981
Between 1956 and 1981, medical care rose the most, up 338.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 118.1%, against 234.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1956
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1956 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.94%
$334
Medical care
6.09%
$439
Transportation
5.21%
$356
Food
4.95%
$334
Apparel
3.17%
$218
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.14% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1956–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$303
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$334
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1956
$100 from 1956 had already become $128 by
1968, on its way to $334 in 1981; 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.
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1956 had the buying
power of $334; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1956 to 1981: $100 is worth $334 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1956 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-1981/