$100 in 1958 is worth $372 in 1985,
because prices increased 272.3% over that period, an average of
4.99% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$372
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
272.3%
Average inflation rate
4.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$372
Price difference ($100 base)
$272
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1958 → 1985
$372
$100 in 1985 → 1958
$26.86
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1985
Between 1958 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 272.3%, which works out to an average of
4.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1985: the 1958 dollar
lost 73.1% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1985 at the same ratio, 3.72: $1,000 becomes
$3,723, and $10,000 becomes $37,232.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1985
$1.00
$3.72
$5.00
$18.62
$10.00
$37.23
$20.00
$74.46
$50.00
$186
$100
$372
$500
$1,862
$1,000
$3,723
$5,000
$18,616
$10,000
$37,232
$100,000
$372,318
$1,000,000
$3,723,183
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1985
Between 1958 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 451.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 135.4%, against 272.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.99%
$372
Medical care
6.52%
$551
Energy
5.92%
$473
Transportation
4.99%
$372
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.95%
$369
Food
4.75%
$350
Apparel
3.22%
$235
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1985
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 1958–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$372
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $140 by
1971, on its way to $372 in 1985; 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 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $372; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1985: $100 is worth $372 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1985/