$100 in 1957 is worth $613 in 2000,
because prices increased 512.8% over that period, an average of
4.31% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$613
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
512.8%
Average inflation rate
4.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$613
Price difference ($100 base)
$513
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1957 → 2000
$613
$100 in 2000 → 1957
$16.32
What happened to prices between 1957 and 2000
Between 1957 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 512.8%, which works out to an average of
4.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2000: the 1957 dollar
lost 83.7% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 2000 at the same ratio, 6.13: $1,000 becomes
$6,128, and $10,000 becomes $61,281.
Amount in 1957
Value in 2000
$1.00
$6.13
$5.00
$30.64
$10.00
$61.28
$20.00
$123
$50.00
$306
$100
$613
$500
$3,064
$1,000
$6,128
$5,000
$30,641
$10,000
$61,281
$100,000
$612,811
$1,000,000
$6,128,114
Inflation by spending category, 1957–2000
Between 1957 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1223.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 191.2%, against 512.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.31%
$613
Medical care
6.19%
$1,324
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.36%
$627
Food
4.18%
$581
Energy
4.17%
$580
Transportation
4.06%
$553
Apparel
2.52%
$291
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 2000
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 1957–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$613
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $258 by
1979, on its way to $613 in 2000; 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: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $613; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 2000: $100 is worth $613 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2000/