$100 in 1957 is worth $216 in 1977,
because prices increased 115.7% over that period, an average of
3.92% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$216
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
115.7%
Average inflation rate
3.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$216
Price difference ($100 base)
$116
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1957 → 1977
$216
$100 in 1977 → 1957
$46.37
What happened to prices between 1957 and 1977
Between 1957 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 115.7%, which works out to an average of
3.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1977: the 1957 dollar
lost 53.6% of its purchasing power over
these 20 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.3% in 1957, up from 1956’s 1.5% and
the sharpest increase since the Korean War price surge of 1951. The jump
fed a growing debate among economists over “cost-push” inflation, prices
climbing from rising wages and material costs rather than excess demand,
a debate that would recur for the next quarter century. The Federal
Reserve tightened policy to fight it, and by August the tighter money
combined with falling business investment to tip the economy into a
recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating. The Cold War took a technological turn that October, when the
Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, on the
4th, stunning the American public and setting off both the Space Race and
a surge in federal science and defense spending the following year. Civil
rights reached a crisis that September in Little Rock, Arkansas: after
Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block nine Black
students from Central High School, Eisenhower federalized the Guard and
sent the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the Supreme Court’s
desegregation order. Consumer prices finished 1957 183.8% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at $1.00 an hour.
Every 1957 amount converts to 1977 at the same ratio, 2.16: $1,000 becomes
$2,157, and $10,000 becomes $21,566.
Amount in 1957
Value in 1977
$1.00
$2.16
$5.00
$10.78
$10.00
$21.57
$20.00
$43.13
$50.00
$108
$100
$216
$500
$1,078
$1,000
$2,157
$5,000
$10,783
$10,000
$21,566
$100,000
$215,658
$1,000,000
$2,156,584
Inflation by spending category, 1957–1977
Between 1957 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 189.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 76.6%, against 115.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.92%
$216
Medical care
5.46%
$289
Energy
4.25%
$230
Food
4.18%
$227
Transportation
3.85%
$213
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.81%
$211
Apparel
2.89%
$177
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.75% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1957–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1957, at end
1957–1960
1.75%
5.3%
$105
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$138
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$216
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $119 by
1967, on its way to $216 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 1957 had the buying
power of $216; 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 1957 to 1977: $100 is worth $216 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1977/