$100 in 1958 is worth $527 in 1995,
because prices increased 427.3% over that period, an average of
4.60% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$527
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
427.3%
Average inflation rate
4.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$527
Price difference ($100 base)
$427
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1958 → 1995
$527
$100 in 1995 → 1958
$18.96
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1995
Between 1958 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 427.3%, which works out to an average of
4.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.19 buys in 1995: the 1958 dollar
lost 81.0% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 1995 at the same ratio, 5.27: $1,000 becomes
$5,273, and $10,000 becomes $52,734.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1995
$1.00
$5.27
$5.00
$26.37
$10.00
$52.73
$20.00
$105
$50.00
$264
$100
$527
$500
$2,637
$1,000
$5,273
$5,000
$26,367
$10,000
$52,734
$100,000
$527,336
$1,000,000
$5,273,356
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1995
Between 1958 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 970.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 196.0%, against 427.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.60%
$527
Medical care
6.62%
$1,070
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.69%
$545
Food
4.40%
$491
Energy
4.38%
$489
Transportation
4.37%
$486
Apparel
2.98%
$296
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1995
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 1958–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$527
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $197 by
1976, on its way to $527 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $527; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1995: $100 is worth $527 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1995/