$100 in 1956 is worth $651 in 2001,
because prices increased 551.1% over that period, an average of
4.25% a year.
$100 in 1956 has
the same buying power as
$651
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
551.1%
Average inflation rate
4.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$651
Price difference ($100 base)
$551
CPI in 1956
27.2
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1956
1.49%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1956 → 2001
$651
$100 in 2001 → 1956
$15.36
What happened to prices between 1956 and 2001
Between 1956 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 27.2 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 551.1%, which works out to an average of
4.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1956 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2001: the 1956 dollar
lost 84.6% of its purchasing power over
these 45 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 2001 at the same ratio, 6.51: $1,000 becomes
$6,511, and $10,000 becomes $65,110.
Amount in 1956
Value in 2001
$1.00
$6.51
$5.00
$32.56
$10.00
$65.11
$20.00
$130
$50.00
$326
$100
$651
$500
$3,256
$1,000
$6,511
$5,000
$32,555
$10,000
$65,110
$100,000
$651,103
$1,000,000
$6,511,029
Inflation by spending category, 1956–2001
Between 1956 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 1343.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 191.3%, against 551.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1956
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1956 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.25%
$651
Medical care
6.11%
$1,443
Food
4.13%
$618
Transportation
4.02%
$589
Apparel
2.40%
$291
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 2001
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.14% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1956–2001 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$481
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$633
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$651
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1956
$100 from 1956 had already become $240 by
1978, on its way to $651 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1956 had the buying
power of $651; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1956 to 2001: $100 is worth $651 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1956 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-2001/