$100 in 1958 is worth $345 in 1983,
because prices increased 244.6% over that period, an average of
5.07% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$345
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
244.6%
Average inflation rate
5.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$345
Price difference ($100 base)
$245
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1958 → 1983
$345
$100 in 1983 → 1958
$29.02
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1983
Between 1958 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 244.6%, which works out to an average of
5.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1983: the 1958 dollar
lost 71.0% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1983 at the same ratio, 3.45: $1,000 becomes
$3,446, and $10,000 becomes $34,464.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1983
$1.00
$3.45
$5.00
$17.23
$10.00
$34.46
$20.00
$68.93
$50.00
$172
$100
$345
$500
$1,723
$1,000
$3,446
$5,000
$17,232
$10,000
$34,464
$100,000
$344,637
$1,000,000
$3,446,367
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1983
Between 1958 and 1983, medical care rose the most, up 388.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 124.7%, against 244.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.07%
$345
Medical care
6.55%
$488
Energy
6.34%
$465
Transportation
5.10%
$347
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.97%
$336
Food
4.88%
$329
Apparel
3.29%
$225
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$345
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $134 by
1970, on its way to $345 in 1983; 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 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $345; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1983: $100 is worth $345 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1983/