$100 in 1957 is worth $842 in 2014,
because prices increased 742.5% over that period, an average of
3.81% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$842
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
742.5%
Average inflation rate
3.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$842
Price difference ($100 base)
$742
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1957 → 2014
$842
$100 in 2014 → 1957
$11.87
What happened to prices between 1957 and 2014
Between 1957 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 742.5%, which works out to an average of
3.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2014: the 1957 dollar
lost 88.1% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 2014 at the same ratio, 8.42: $1,000 becomes
$8,425, and $10,000 becomes $84,248.
Amount in 1957
Value in 2014
$1.00
$8.42
$5.00
$42.12
$10.00
$84.25
$20.00
$168
$50.00
$421
$100
$842
$500
$4,212
$1,000
$8,425
$5,000
$42,124
$10,000
$84,248
$100,000
$842,477
$1,000,000
$8,424,769
Inflation by spending category, 1957–2014
Between 1957 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 2109.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 186.5%, against 742.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.81%
$842
Medical care
5.58%
$2,210
Energy
4.35%
$1,133
Food
3.80%
$840
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.77%
$823
Transportation
3.67%
$780
Apparel
1.86%
$287
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 2014
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 1957–2014 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$776
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$842
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $383 by
1985, on its way to $842 in 2014; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $842; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 2014: $100 is worth $842 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2014/