$100 in 1958 is worth $112 in 1966,
because prices increased 12.1% over that period, an average of
1.44% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$112
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
12.1%
Average inflation rate
1.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$112
Price difference ($100 base)
$12.11
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1958 → 1966
$112
$100 in 1966 → 1958
$89.20
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1966
Between 1958 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 12.1%, which works out to an average of
1.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.89 buys in 1966: the 1958 dollar
lost 10.8% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 1966 at the same ratio, 1.12: $1,000 becomes
$1,121, and $10,000 becomes $11,211.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.12
$5.00
$5.61
$10.00
$11.21
$20.00
$22.42
$50.00
$56.06
$100
$112
$500
$561
$1,000
$1,121
$5,000
$5,606
$10,000
$11,211
$100,000
$112,111
$1,000,000
$1,121,107
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1966
Between 1958 and 1966, medical care rose the most, up 27.7%, while energy rose the least, up 8.4%, against 12.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.44%
$112
Medical care
3.10%
$128
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.56%
$113
Transportation
1.53%
$113
Food
1.42%
$112
Apparel
1.18%
$110
Energy
1.01%
$108
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1966
Prices climbed fastest in the 1960s, averaging 1.52% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1966 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1958, at end
1958–1960
1.20%
2.4%
$102
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$112
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $104 by
1962, on its way to $112 in 1966; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.9% in 1966, and the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
In 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $112; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1966: $100 is worth $112 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1966/