$100 in 1957 is worth $571 in 1997,
because prices increased 471.2% over that period, an average of
4.45% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$571
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
471.2%
Average inflation rate
4.45% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$571
Price difference ($100 base)
$471
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1957 → 1997
$571
$100 in 1997 → 1957
$17.51
What happened to prices between 1957 and 1997
Between 1957 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 471.2%, which works out to an average of
4.45% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1997: the 1957 dollar
lost 82.5% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 1997 at the same ratio, 5.71: $1,000 becomes
$5,712, and $10,000 becomes $57,117.
Amount in 1957
Value in 1997
$1.00
$5.71
$5.00
$28.56
$10.00
$57.12
$20.00
$114
$50.00
$286
$100
$571
$500
$2,856
$1,000
$5,712
$5,000
$28,559
$10,000
$57,117
$100,000
$571,174
$1,000,000
$5,711,744
Inflation by spending category, 1957–1997
Between 1957 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 1090.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 198.7%, against 471.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.45%
$571
Medical care
6.39%
$1,191
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.52%
$587
Food
4.33%
$544
Transportation
4.21%
$521
Energy
4.20%
$519
Apparel
2.77%
$299
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 1997
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 1957–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$571
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $216 by
1977, on its way to $571 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $571; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 1997: $100 is worth $571 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1997/