$100 in 1958 is worth $154 in 1973,
because prices increased 53.6% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$154
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
53.6%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$154
Price difference ($100 base)
$53.63
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1958 → 1973
$154
$100 in 1973 → 1958
$65.09
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1973
Between 1958 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 53.6%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.65 buys in 1973: the 1958 dollar
lost 34.9% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 1973 at the same ratio, 1.54: $1,000 becomes
$1,536, and $10,000 becomes $15,363.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1973
$1.00
$1.54
$5.00
$7.68
$10.00
$15.36
$20.00
$30.73
$50.00
$76.82
$100
$154
$500
$768
$1,000
$1,536
$5,000
$7,682
$10,000
$15,363
$100,000
$153,633
$1,000,000
$1,536,332
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1973
Between 1958 and 1973, medical care rose the most, up 88.3%, while energy rose the least, up 36.7%, against 53.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$154
Medical care
4.31%
$188
Food
3.17%
$160
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.92%
$154
Apparel
2.50%
$145
Transportation
2.46%
$144
Energy
2.11%
$137
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1973
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 4.60% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1973 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1958, at end
1958–1960
1.20%
2.4%
$102
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$134
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$154
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $109 by
1965, on its way to $154 in 1973; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 6.2% in 1973, and the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $154; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1973: $100 is worth $154 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1973/