$100 in 1958 is worth $315 in 1981,
because prices increased 214.5% over that period, an average of
5.11% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$315
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
214.5%
Average inflation rate
5.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$315
Price difference ($100 base)
$215
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1958 → 1981
$315
$100 in 1981 → 1958
$31.79
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1981
Between 1958 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 214.5%, which works out to an average of
5.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1981: the 1958 dollar
lost 68.2% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 1981 at the same ratio, 3.15: $1,000 becomes
$3,145, and $10,000 becomes $31,453.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1981
$1.00
$3.15
$5.00
$15.73
$10.00
$31.45
$20.00
$62.91
$50.00
$157
$100
$315
$500
$1,573
$1,000
$3,145
$5,000
$15,727
$10,000
$31,453
$100,000
$314,533
$1,000,000
$3,145,329
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1981
Between 1958 and 1981, energy rose the most, up 354.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 113.7%, against 214.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.11%
$315
Energy
6.80%
$454
Medical care
6.24%
$402
Transportation
5.27%
$326
Food
5.04%
$310
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.91%
$301
Apparel
3.36%
$214
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1981 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$285
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$315
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $127 by
1969, on its way to $315 in 1981; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $315; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1981: $100 is worth $315 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1981/