$100 in 1957 is worth $766 in 2008,
because prices increased 666.2% over that period, an average of
4.07% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$766
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
666.2%
Average inflation rate
4.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$766
Price difference ($100 base)
$666
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1957 → 2008
$766
$100 in 2008 → 1957
$13.05
What happened to prices between 1957 and 2008
Between 1957 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 666.2%, which works out to an average of
4.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2008: the 1957 dollar
lost 86.9% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2008 at the same ratio, 7.66: $1,000 becomes
$7,662, and $10,000 becomes $76,620.
Amount in 1957
Value in 2008
$1.00
$7.66
$5.00
$38.31
$10.00
$76.62
$20.00
$153
$50.00
$383
$100
$766
$500
$3,831
$1,000
$7,662
$5,000
$38,310
$10,000
$76,620
$100,000
$766,203
$1,000,000
$7,662,028
Inflation by spending category, 1957–2008
Between 1957 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 1748.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 167.2%, against 666.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.07%
$766
Medical care
5.89%
$1,848
Energy
4.82%
$1,101
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.02%
$746
Food
4.00%
$741
Transportation
3.91%
$706
Apparel
1.95%
$267
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 2008
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 1957–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$766
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $354 by
1983, on its way to $766 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $766; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 2008: $100 is worth $766 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2008/