$100 in 1959 is worth $592 in 2000,
because prices increased 491.8% over that period, an average of
4.43% a year.
$100 in 1959 has
the same buying power as
$592
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
491.8%
Average inflation rate
4.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$592
Price difference ($100 base)
$492
CPI in 1959
29.1
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1959 → 2000
$592
$100 in 2000 → 1959
$16.90
What happened to prices between 1959 and 2000
Between 1959 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.1 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 491.8%, which works out to an average of
4.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1959 bought what
$0.17 buys in 2000: the 1959 dollar
lost 83.1% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 2000 at the same ratio, 5.92: $1,000 becomes
$5,918, and $10,000 becomes $59,175.
Amount in 1959
Value in 2000
$1.00
$5.92
$5.00
$29.59
$10.00
$59.18
$20.00
$118
$50.00
$296
$100
$592
$500
$2,959
$1,000
$5,918
$5,000
$29,588
$10,000
$59,175
$100,000
$591,753
$1,000,000
$5,917,526
Inflation by spending category, 1959–2000
Between 1959 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1113.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 188.0%, against 491.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1959
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1959 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.43%
$592
Medical care
6.28%
$1,213
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.47%
$600
Energy
4.33%
$569
Food
4.31%
$565
Transportation
4.08%
$514
Apparel
2.61%
$288
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1959: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1959 to 2000
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 1959–2000 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$449
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$592
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1959
$100 from 1959 had already become $249 by
1979, on its way to $592 in 2000; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1959 had the buying
power of $592; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1959 to 2000: $100 is worth $592 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1959 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-2000/