$100 in 1958 is worth $500 in 1993,
because prices increased 400.0% over that period, an average of
4.71% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$500
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
400.0%
Average inflation rate
4.71% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$500
Price difference ($100 base)
$400
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1958 → 1993
$500
$100 in 1993 → 1958
$20.00
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1993
Between 1958 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 400.0%, which works out to an average of
4.71% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.20 buys in 1993: the 1958 dollar
lost 80.0% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 1993 at the same ratio, 5.00: $1,000 becomes
$5,000, and $10,000 becomes $50,000.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1993
$1.00
$5.00
$5.00
$25.00
$10.00
$50.00
$20.00
$100
$50.00
$250
$100
$500
$500
$2,500
$1,000
$5,000
$5,000
$25,000
$10,000
$50,000
$100,000
$500,000
$1,000,000
$5,000,000
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1993
Between 1958 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 877.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 199.8%, against 400.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.71%
$500
Medical care
6.73%
$978
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.79%
$514
Energy
4.61%
$485
Food
4.50%
$467
Transportation
4.43%
$456
Apparel
3.19%
$300
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1993
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 1958–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$500
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $197 by
1976, on its way to $500 in 1993; 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: 1993
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $500; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1993: $100 is worth $500 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1993/