$100 in 1957 is worth $630 in 2001,
because prices increased 530.2% over that period, an average of
4.27% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$630
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
530.2%
Average inflation rate
4.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$630
Price difference ($100 base)
$530
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1957 → 2001
$630
$100 in 2001 → 1957
$15.87
What happened to prices between 1957 and 2001
Between 1957 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 530.2%, which works out to an average of
4.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2001: the 1957 dollar
lost 84.1% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 2001 at the same ratio, 6.30: $1,000 becomes
$6,302, and $10,000 becomes $63,025.
Amount in 1957
Value in 2001
$1.00
$6.30
$5.00
$31.51
$10.00
$63.02
$20.00
$126
$50.00
$315
$100
$630
$500
$3,151
$1,000
$6,302
$5,000
$31,512
$10,000
$63,025
$100,000
$630,249
$1,000,000
$6,302,491
Inflation by spending category, 1957–2001
Between 1957 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 1284.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 186.1%, against 530.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.27%
$630
Medical care
6.15%
$1,385
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.32%
$644
Energy
4.16%
$601
Food
4.15%
$599
Transportation
3.98%
$557
Apparel
2.42%
$286
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 2001
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 1957–2001 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
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$630
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $258 by
1979, on its way to $630 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $630; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 2001: $100 is worth $630 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2001/