$100 in 1958 is worth $409 in 1988,
because prices increased 309.3% over that period, an average of
4.81% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$409
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
309.3%
Average inflation rate
4.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$409
Price difference ($100 base)
$309
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1958 → 1988
$409
$100 in 1988 → 1958
$24.43
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1988
Between 1958 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 309.3%, which works out to an average of
4.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1988: the 1958 dollar
lost 75.6% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1988 at the same ratio, 4.09: $1,000 becomes
$4,093, and $10,000 becomes $40,934.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1988
$1.00
$4.09
$5.00
$20.47
$10.00
$40.93
$20.00
$81.87
$50.00
$205
$100
$409
$500
$2,047
$1,000
$4,093
$5,000
$20,467
$10,000
$40,934
$100,000
$409,343
$1,000,000
$4,093,426
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1988
Between 1958 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 572.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 158.7%, against 309.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.81%
$409
Medical care
6.56%
$673
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.87%
$417
Energy
4.86%
$415
Food
4.65%
$391
Transportation
4.55%
$380
Apparel
3.22%
$259
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1988
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 1958–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$409
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $154 by
1973, on its way to $409 in 1988; 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 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $409; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1988: $100 is worth $409 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1988/