$100 in 1958 is worth $379 in 1986,
because prices increased 279.2% over that period, an average of
4.88% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$379
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
279.2%
Average inflation rate
4.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$379
Price difference ($100 base)
$279
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1958 → 1986
$379
$100 in 1986 → 1958
$26.37
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1986
Between 1958 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 279.2%, which works out to an average of
4.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1986: the 1958 dollar
lost 73.6% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 1986 at the same ratio, 3.79: $1,000 becomes
$3,792, and $10,000 becomes $37,924.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1986
$1.00
$3.79
$5.00
$18.96
$10.00
$37.92
$20.00
$75.85
$50.00
$190
$100
$379
$500
$1,896
$1,000
$3,792
$5,000
$18,962
$10,000
$37,924
$100,000
$379,239
$1,000,000
$3,792,388
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1986
Between 1958 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 492.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 137.4%, against 279.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.88%
$379
Medical care
6.56%
$592
Energy
5.17%
$410
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.92%
$383
Food
4.69%
$361
Transportation
4.66%
$358
Apparel
3.14%
$237
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1986
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 1958–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$379
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $145 by
1972, on its way to $379 in 1986; 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 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $379; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1986: $100 is worth $379 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1986/