$100 in 1957 is worth $558 in 1996,
because prices increased 458.4% over that period, an average of
4.51% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$558
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
458.4%
Average inflation rate
4.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$558
Price difference ($100 base)
$458
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1957 → 1996
$558
$100 in 1996 → 1957
$17.91
What happened to prices between 1957 and 1996
Between 1957 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 458.4%, which works out to an average of
4.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1996: the 1957 dollar
lost 82.1% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1996 at the same ratio, 5.58: $1,000 becomes
$5,584, and $10,000 becomes $55,836.
Amount in 1957
Value in 1996
$1.00
$5.58
$5.00
$27.92
$10.00
$55.84
$20.00
$112
$50.00
$279
$100
$558
$500
$2,792
$1,000
$5,584
$5,000
$27,918
$10,000
$55,836
$100,000
$558,363
$1,000,000
$5,583,630
Inflation by spending category, 1957–1996
Between 1957 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 1058.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 196.0%, against 458.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.51%
$558
Medical care
6.48%
$1,158
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.58%
$573
Food
4.37%
$530
Transportation
4.30%
$516
Energy
4.28%
$512
Apparel
2.82%
$296
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 1996
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 1957–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$558
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $216 by
1977, on its way to $558 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $558; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 1996: $100 is worth $558 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1996/