$100 in 1959 is worth $283 in 1980,
because prices increased 183.2% over that period, an average of
5.08% a year.
$100 in 1959 has
the same buying power as
$283
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
183.2%
Average inflation rate
5.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$283
Price difference ($100 base)
$183
CPI in 1959
29.1
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1959 → 1980
$283
$100 in 1980 → 1959
$35.32
What happened to prices between 1959 and 1980
Between 1959 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.1 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 183.2%, which works out to an average of
5.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1959 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1980: the 1959 dollar
lost 64.7% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 1980 at the same ratio, 2.83: $1,000 becomes
$2,832, and $10,000 becomes $28,316.
Amount in 1959
Value in 1980
$1.00
$2.83
$5.00
$14.16
$10.00
$28.32
$20.00
$56.63
$50.00
$142
$100
$283
$500
$1,416
$1,000
$2,832
$5,000
$14,158
$10,000
$28,316
$100,000
$283,162
$1,000,000
$2,831,615
Inflation by spending category, 1959–1980
Between 1959 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 292.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 102.0%, against 183.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1959
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1959 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.08%
$283
Energy
6.73%
$393
Medical care
6.12%
$348
Food
5.24%
$292
Transportation
5.00%
$279
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.80%
$268
Apparel
3.40%
$202
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1959: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1959 to 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1959–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$283
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1959
$100 from 1959 had already become $126 by
1969, on its way to $283 in 1980; 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 1.0% in 1962.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1959 had the buying
power of $283; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1959 to 1980: $100 is worth $283 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1959 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-1980/