$100 in 1957 is worth $738 in 2007,
because prices increased 637.9% over that period, an average of
4.08% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$738
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
637.9%
Average inflation rate
4.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$738
Price difference ($100 base)
$638
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1957 → 2007
$738
$100 in 2007 → 1957
$13.55
What happened to prices between 1957 and 2007
Between 1957 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 637.9%, which works out to an average of
4.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2007: the 1957 dollar
lost 86.4% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 2007 at the same ratio, 7.38: $1,000 becomes
$7,379, and $10,000 becomes $73,787.
Amount in 1957
Value in 2007
$1.00
$7.38
$5.00
$36.89
$10.00
$73.79
$20.00
$148
$50.00
$369
$100
$738
$500
$3,689
$1,000
$7,379
$5,000
$36,894
$10,000
$73,787
$100,000
$737,872
$1,000,000
$7,378,719
Inflation by spending category, 1957–2007
Between 1957 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 1682.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 167.4%, against 637.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.08%
$738
Medical care
5.93%
$1,782
Energy
4.64%
$966
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.05%
$729
Food
3.97%
$702
Transportation
3.87%
$667
Apparel
1.99%
$267
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 2007
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 1957–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$738
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $323 by
1981, on its way to $738 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $738; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 2007: $100 is worth $738 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2007/