$100 in 1958 is worth $543 in 1996,
because prices increased 442.9% over that period, an average of
4.55% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$543
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
442.9%
Average inflation rate
4.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$543
Price difference ($100 base)
$443
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1958 → 1996
$543
$100 in 1996 → 1958
$18.42
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1996
Between 1958 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 442.9%, which works out to an average of
4.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1996: the 1958 dollar
lost 81.6% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 1996 at the same ratio, 5.43: $1,000 becomes
$5,429, and $10,000 becomes $54,291.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1996
$1.00
$5.43
$5.00
$27.15
$10.00
$54.29
$20.00
$109
$50.00
$271
$100
$543
$500
$2,715
$1,000
$5,429
$5,000
$27,145
$10,000
$54,291
$100,000
$542,907
$1,000,000
$5,429,066
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1996
Between 1958 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 1007.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.3%, against 442.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.55%
$543
Medical care
6.53%
$1,108
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.64%
$559
Energy
4.39%
$512
Food
4.37%
$508
Transportation
4.33%
$500
Apparel
2.89%
$295
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1996
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 1958–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$543
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $197 by
1976, on its way to $543 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $543; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1996: $100 is worth $543 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1996/