$100 in 1956 is worth $856 in 2013,
because prices increased 756.5% over that period, an average of
3.84% a year.
$100 in 1956 has
the same buying power as
$856
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
756.5%
Average inflation rate
3.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$856
Price difference ($100 base)
$756
CPI in 1956
27.2
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1956
1.49%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1956 → 2013
$856
$100 in 2013 → 1956
$11.68
What happened to prices between 1956 and 2013
Between 1956 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 27.2 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 756.5%, which works out to an average of
3.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1956 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2013: the 1956 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 2013 at the same ratio, 8.56: $1,000 becomes
$8,565, and $10,000 becomes $85,646.
Amount in 1956
Value in 2013
$1.00
$8.56
$5.00
$42.82
$10.00
$85.65
$20.00
$171
$50.00
$428
$100
$856
$500
$4,282
$1,000
$8,565
$5,000
$42,823
$10,000
$85,646
$100,000
$856,460
$1,000,000
$8,564,596
Inflation by spending category, 1956–2013
Between 1956 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 2149.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 191.6%, against 756.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1956
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1956 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.84%
$856
Medical care
5.61%
$2,249
Food
3.82%
$847
Transportation
3.78%
$830
Apparel
1.90%
$292
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 2013
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 1956–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$802
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$856
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1956
$100 from 1956 had already become $382 by
1984, on its way to $856 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 1956 had the buying
power of $856; 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 1956 to 2013: $100 is worth $856 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1956 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1956-to-2013/