$100 in 1959 is worth $801 in 2013,
because prices increased 700.5% over that period, an average of
3.93% a year.
$100 in 1959 has
the same buying power as
$801
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
700.5%
Average inflation rate
3.93% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$801
Price difference ($100 base)
$701
CPI in 1959
29.1
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1959 → 2013
$801
$100 in 2013 → 1959
$12.49
What happened to prices between 1959 and 2013
Between 1959 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.1 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 700.5%, which works out to an average of
3.93% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1959 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2013: the 1959 dollar
lost 87.5% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 2013 at the same ratio, 8.01: $1,000 becomes
$8,005, and $10,000 becomes $80,054.
Amount in 1959
Value in 2013
$1.00
$8.01
$5.00
$40.03
$10.00
$80.05
$20.00
$160
$50.00
$400
$100
$801
$500
$4,003
$1,000
$8,005
$5,000
$40,027
$10,000
$80,054
$100,000
$800,540
$1,000,000
$8,005,395
Inflation by spending category, 1959–2013
Between 1959 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 1877.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 183.1%, against 700.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1959
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1959 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.93%
$801
Medical care
5.68%
$1,977
Energy
4.57%
$1,116
Food
3.92%
$798
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.86%
$774
Transportation
3.75%
$730
Apparel
1.95%
$283
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1959: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1959 to 2013
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 1959–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$749
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$801
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1959
$100 from 1959 had already become $370 by
1985, on its way to $801 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1959 had the buying
power of $801; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1959 to 2013: $100 is worth $801 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1959 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-2013/