$100 in 1958 is worth $513 in 1994,
because prices increased 412.8% over that period, an average of
4.65% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$513
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
412.8%
Average inflation rate
4.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$513
Price difference ($100 base)
$413
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1958 → 1994
$513
$100 in 1994 → 1958
$19.50
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1994
Between 1958 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 412.8%, which works out to an average of
4.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.20 buys in 1994: the 1958 dollar
lost 80.5% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 1994 at the same ratio, 5.13: $1,000 becomes
$5,128, and $10,000 becomes $51,280.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1994
$1.00
$5.13
$5.00
$25.64
$10.00
$51.28
$20.00
$103
$50.00
$256
$100
$513
$500
$2,564
$1,000
$5,128
$5,000
$25,640
$10,000
$51,280
$100,000
$512,803
$1,000,000
$5,128,028
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1994
Between 1958 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 924.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 199.1%, against 412.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.65%
$513
Medical care
6.68%
$1,024
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.73%
$529
Energy
4.49%
$487
Food
4.44%
$478
Transportation
4.39%
$470
Apparel
3.09%
$299
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1994
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 1958–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$513
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $197 by
1976, on its way to $513 in 1994; 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: 1994
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $513; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1994: $100 is worth $513 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1994/