$100 in 1958 is worth $107 in 1964,
because prices increased 7.3% over that period, an average of
1.18% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$107
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
7.3%
Average inflation rate
1.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$107
Price difference ($100 base)
$7.27
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1958 → 1964
$107
$100 in 1964 → 1958
$93.23
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1964
Between 1958 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 7.3%, which works out to an average of
1.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.93 buys in 1964: the 1958 dollar
lost 6.8% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in 1958, down only slightly from
1957’s 3.3% even as the country sank into the sharpest
postwar recession to that point, an early sign that inflation and a
shrinking economy could coexist rather than trade off against each other.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the downturn’s trough to
that April, with unemployment peaking near 7.5% that summer, the worst
reading since the 1930s. The Post Office raised first-class postage to 4
cents that August 1, up from 3 cents, the rate’s first change since 1932.
Washington answered the Soviet Union’s technological lead that summer
too: Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29,
establishing NASA, which opened for business that October 1 to compete
with the Soviet space program after the shock of Sputnik the year before.
Consumer prices finished 1958 191.9% above their 1913
level. The minimum wage held at $1.00 an hour, and first-class postage
rose to 4 cents that August, the first increase since 1932.
Every 1958 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 1.07: $1,000 becomes
$1,073, and $10,000 becomes $10,727.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1964
$1.00
$1.07
$5.00
$5.36
$10.00
$10.73
$20.00
$21.45
$50.00
$53.63
$100
$107
$500
$536
$1,000
$1,073
$5,000
$5,363
$10,000
$10,727
$100,000
$107,266
$1,000,000
$1,072,664
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1964
Between 1958 and 1964, medical care rose the most, up 19.4%, while food rose the least, up 4.3%, against 7.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.18%
$107
Medical care
3.00%
$119
Transportation
1.57%
$110
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.47%
$109
Apparel
0.98%
$106
Energy
0.76%
$105
Food
0.70%
$104
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 1.20% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.16% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1958, at end
1958–1960
1.20%
2.4%
$102
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$107
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $103 by
1961, on its way to $107 in 1964; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 1.7% in 1960, and the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $107; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1964: $100 is worth $107 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1964/