$100 in 1957 is worth $293 in 1980,
because prices increased 193.2% over that period, an average of
4.79% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$293
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
193.2%
Average inflation rate
4.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$293
Price difference ($100 base)
$193
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1957 → 1980
$293
$100 in 1980 → 1957
$34.10
What happened to prices between 1957 and 1980
Between 1957 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 193.2%, which works out to an average of
4.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.34 buys in 1980: the 1957 dollar
lost 65.9% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 1980 at the same ratio, 2.93: $1,000 becomes
$2,932, and $10,000 becomes $29,324.
Amount in 1957
Value in 1980
$1.00
$2.93
$5.00
$14.66
$10.00
$29.32
$20.00
$58.65
$50.00
$147
$100
$293
$500
$1,466
$1,000
$2,932
$5,000
$14,662
$10,000
$29,324
$100,000
$293,238
$1,000,000
$2,932,384
Inflation by spending category, 1957–1980
Between 1957 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 300.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 104.3%, against 193.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.79%
$293
Energy
6.21%
$400
Medical care
5.98%
$380
Food
4.90%
$300
Transportation
4.89%
$300
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.57%
$280
Apparel
3.15%
$204
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.75% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1957–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$293
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $124 by
1968, on its way to $293 in 1980; 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 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $293; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 1980: $100 is worth $293 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1980/