$100 in 1957 is worth $854 in 2016,
because prices increased 754.1% over that period, an average of
3.70% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$854
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
754.1%
Average inflation rate
3.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$854
Price difference ($100 base)
$754
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1957 → 2016
$854
$100 in 2016 → 1957
$11.71
What happened to prices between 1957 and 2016
Between 1957 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 754.1%, which works out to an average of
3.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2016: the 1957 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 2016 at the same ratio, 8.54: $1,000 becomes
$8,541, and $10,000 becomes $85,412.
Amount in 1957
Value in 2016
$1.00
$8.54
$5.00
$42.71
$10.00
$85.41
$20.00
$171
$50.00
$427
$100
$854
$500
$4,271
$1,000
$8,541
$5,000
$42,706
$10,000
$85,412
$100,000
$854,117
$1,000,000
$8,541,174
Inflation by spending category, 1957–2016
Between 1957 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 2253.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 183.2%, against 754.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.70%
$854
Medical care
5.50%
$2,354
Energy
3.76%
$882
Food
3.71%
$858
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.71%
$857
Transportation
3.36%
$704
Apparel
1.78%
$283
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1957–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$854
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $404 by
1987, on its way to $854 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $854; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1957 to 2016: $100 is worth $854 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-2016/