$100 in 1959 is worth $740 in 2008,
because prices increased 639.9% over that period, an average of
4.17% a year.
$100 in 1959 has
the same buying power as
$740
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
639.9%
Average inflation rate
4.17% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$740
Price difference ($100 base)
$640
CPI in 1959
29.1
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1959 → 2008
$740
$100 in 2008 → 1959
$13.52
What happened to prices between 1959 and 2008
Between 1959 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.1 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 639.9%, which works out to an average of
4.17% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1959 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2008: the 1959 dollar
lost 86.5% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 2008 at the same ratio, 7.40: $1,000 becomes
$7,399, and $10,000 becomes $73,987.
Amount in 1959
Value in 2008
$1.00
$7.40
$5.00
$36.99
$10.00
$73.99
$20.00
$148
$50.00
$370
$100
$740
$500
$3,699
$1,000
$7,399
$5,000
$36,994
$10,000
$73,987
$100,000
$739,873
$1,000,000
$7,398,729
Inflation by spending category, 1959–2008
Between 1959 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 1593.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 164.2%, against 639.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1959
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1959 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.17%
$740
Medical care
5.94%
$1,693
Energy
4.98%
$1,081
Food
4.11%
$721
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.09%
$714
Transportation
3.91%
$656
Apparel
2.00%
$264
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1959: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1959 to 2008
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 1959–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$740
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1959
$100 from 1959 had already become $342 by
1983, on its way to $740 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1959 had the buying
power of $740; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1959 to 2008: $100 is worth $740 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1959 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-2008/