What America was like in 1955
You were born in…
1955
This is where your story begins.
You’ve been here for
71
years
That’s about 25,900 days of history.
A first-class stamp in 1955 cost
3¢
Today the same stamp costs 82¢.
A dollar from 1955 would be worth
$12.58
today
Measured by the government’s Consumer Price Index.
The federal minimum wage in 1955 was
75¢
an hour
Today it’s $7.25.
The president in 1955
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Since then you’ve lived under 13 presidents.
The 1950 census counted
151 million
Americans
By 2020 there were 331 million of us.
You’ve been around for
60
Super Bowls
Every single one of them. From Super Bowl I in 1967 to Super Bowl LX in 2026.
You’re older than…
- Congress created the Interstate Highway System1956. You were 1.
- NASA was founded1958. You were 3.
- Barbie went on sale1959. You were 4.
- The first Walmart opened in Rogers, Arkansas1962. You were 7.
- ZIP codes arrived1963. You were 8.
- The Ford Mustang went on sale1964. You were 9.
…and 18 more on our list.
So yes,
you’ve seen the worldchange a lot.
And you remember it.
Your 1955 story
That was 1955.
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Where these numbers come from
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100
- U.S. Postal Service, Rates for Domestic Letters Since 1863
- U.S. Department of Labor, history of federal minimum wage rates
- U.S. Census Bureau, decennial census resident population
- Presidents and milestones: widely documented public records.