$100 in 1959 is worth $208 in 1977,
because prices increased 108.2% over that period, an average of
4.16% a year.
$100 in 1959 has
the same buying power as
$208
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
108.2%
Average inflation rate
4.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$208
Price difference ($100 base)
$108
CPI in 1959
29.1
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1959 → 1977
$208
$100 in 1977 → 1959
$48.02
What happened to prices between 1959 and 1977
Between 1959 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.1 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 108.2%, which works out to an average of
4.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1959 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1977: the 1959 dollar
lost 52.0% of its purchasing power over
these 18 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1959, down sharply from 1958’s
2.8% as the economy recovered briskly from the year before’s recession,
with output and employment both rebounding through the year. The map of
the country changed that year for the first time since 1912: Alaska
joined the union January 3, and Hawaii followed August 21, completing the
50-state United States. Ninety miles from Florida, Cuba changed hands
that January, when Fidel Castro’s guerrilla forces overthrew President
Fulgencio Batista, who fled the country on the 1st; Castro entered Havana
on the 8th, beginning a Communist government that would define Cold War
tensions in the hemisphere for decades. Labor and management fought their
longest battle of the postwar era that summer: the United Steelworkers
walked out July 15 in a dispute over work rules, the longest strike in the
industry’s history, before a federal court granted the Eisenhower
administration a Taft-Hartley back-to-work order that November. Consumer
prices finished the decade 193.9% above their 1913 level,
up 20.7% from where they stood in 1950. First-class
postage held at 4 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.00 an hour.
Every 1959 amount converts to 1977 at the same ratio, 2.08: $1,000 becomes
$2,082, and $10,000 becomes $20,825.
Amount in 1959
Value in 1977
$1.00
$2.08
$5.00
$10.41
$10.00
$20.82
$20.00
$41.65
$50.00
$104
$100
$208
$500
$1,041
$1,000
$2,082
$5,000
$10,412
$10,000
$20,825
$100,000
$208,247
$1,000,000
$2,082,474
Inflation by spending category, 1959–1977
Between 1959 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 165.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 74.7%, against 108.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1959
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1959 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.16%
$208
Medical care
5.57%
$265
Energy
4.62%
$226
Food
4.49%
$221
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.98%
$202
Transportation
3.87%
$198
Apparel
3.15%
$175
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1959: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1959 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1959–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1959, at end
1959–1960
1.72%
1.7%
$102
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$133
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$208
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1959
$100 from 1959 had already become $120 by
1968, on its way to $208 in 1977; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 1.0% in 1962.
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1959 had the buying
power of $208; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1959 to 1977: $100 is worth $208 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1959 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-1977/