$100 in 1958 is worth $171 in 1974,
because prices increased 70.6% over that period, an average of
3.39% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$171
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
70.6%
Average inflation rate
3.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$171
Price difference ($100 base)
$70.59
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1958 → 1974
$171
$100 in 1974 → 1958
$58.62
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1974
Between 1958 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 70.6%, which works out to an average of
3.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.59 buys in 1974: the 1958 dollar
lost 41.4% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1974 at the same ratio, 1.71: $1,000 becomes
$1,706, and $10,000 becomes $17,059.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1974
$1.00
$1.71
$5.00
$8.53
$10.00
$17.06
$20.00
$34.12
$50.00
$85.29
$100
$171
$500
$853
$1,000
$1,706
$5,000
$8,529
$10,000
$17,059
$100,000
$170,588
$1,000,000
$1,705,882
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1974
Between 1958 and 1974, medical care rose the most, up 105.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 55.6%, against 70.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.39%
$171
Medical care
4.61%
$206
Food
3.83%
$182
Energy
3.64%
$177
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.25%
$167
Transportation
2.99%
$160
Apparel
2.80%
$156
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1974 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
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$171
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $112 by
1966, on its way to $171 in 1974; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $171; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1974: $100 is worth $171 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1974/