$100 in 1958 is worth $186 in 1975,
because prices increased 86.2% over that period, an average of
3.72% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$186
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
86.2%
Average inflation rate
3.72% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$186
Price difference ($100 base)
$86.16
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1958 → 1975
$186
$100 in 1975 → 1958
$53.72
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1975
Between 1958 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 86.2%, which works out to an average of
3.72% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1975: the 1958 dollar
lost 46.3% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 1975 at the same ratio, 1.86: $1,000 becomes
$1,862, and $10,000 becomes $18,616.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1975
$1.00
$1.86
$5.00
$9.31
$10.00
$18.62
$20.00
$37.23
$50.00
$93.08
$100
$186
$500
$931
$1,000
$1,862
$5,000
$9,308
$10,000
$18,616
$100,000
$186,159
$1,000,000
$1,861,592
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1975
Between 1958 and 1975, medical care rose the most, up 130.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 62.6%, against 86.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.72%
$186
Medical care
5.04%
$231
Food
4.10%
$198
Energy
4.03%
$196
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.59%
$182
Transportation
3.35%
$175
Apparel
2.90%
$163
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1975
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.76% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1975 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
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$186
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $112 by
1966, on its way to $186 in 1975; 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 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $186; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1975: $100 is worth $186 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1975/