$100 in 1958 is worth $471 in 1991,
because prices increased 371.3% over that period, an average of
4.81% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$471
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
371.3%
Average inflation rate
4.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$471
Price difference ($100 base)
$371
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1958 → 1991
$471
$100 in 1991 → 1958
$21.22
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1991
Between 1958 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 371.3%, which works out to an average of
4.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1991: the 1958 dollar
lost 78.8% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 1991 at the same ratio, 4.71: $1,000 becomes
$4,713, and $10,000 becomes $47,128.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1991
$1.00
$4.71
$5.00
$23.56
$10.00
$47.13
$20.00
$94.26
$50.00
$236
$100
$471
$500
$2,356
$1,000
$4,713
$5,000
$23,564
$10,000
$47,128
$100,000
$471,280
$1,000,000
$4,712,803
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1991
Between 1958 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 759.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 188.6%, against 371.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.81%
$471
Medical care
6.73%
$859
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.87%
$480
Energy
4.85%
$477
Food
4.67%
$451
Transportation
4.54%
$433
Apparel
3.26%
$289
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1991
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 1958–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$452
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$471
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $171 by
1974, on its way to $471 in 1991; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $471; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1991: $100 is worth $471 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1991/