$100 in 1957 is worth $465 in 1990,
because prices increased 365.1% over that period, an average of
4.77% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$465
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
365.1%
Average inflation rate
4.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$465
Price difference ($100 base)
$365
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1957 → 1990
$465
$100 in 1990 → 1957
$21.50
What happened to prices between 1957 and 1990
Between 1957 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 365.1%, which works out to an average of
4.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1990: the 1957 dollar
lost 78.5% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 1990 at the same ratio, 4.65: $1,000 becomes
$4,651, and $10,000 becomes $46,512.
Amount in 1957
Value in 1990
$1.00
$4.65
$5.00
$23.26
$10.00
$46.51
$20.00
$93.02
$50.00
$233
$100
$465
$500
$2,326
$1,000
$4,651
$5,000
$23,256
$10,000
$46,512
$100,000
$465,125
$1,000,000
$4,651,246
Inflation by spending category, 1957–1990
Between 1957 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 726.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 178.9%, against 365.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.77%
$465
Medical care
6.61%
$826
Energy
4.83%
$475
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.79%
$469
Food
4.72%
$458
Transportation
4.56%
$435
Apparel
3.16%
$279
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 1990
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 1957–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$465
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $158 by
1973, on its way to $465 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $465; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 1990: $100 is worth $465 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1990/