$100 in 1958 is worth $555 in 1997,
because prices increased 455.4% over that period, an average of
4.49% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$555
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
455.4%
Average inflation rate
4.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$555
Price difference ($100 base)
$455
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1958 → 1997
$555
$100 in 1997 → 1958
$18.01
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1997
Between 1958 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 455.4%, which works out to an average of
4.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1997: the 1958 dollar
lost 82.0% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1997 at the same ratio, 5.55: $1,000 becomes
$5,554, and $10,000 becomes $55,536.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1997
$1.00
$5.55
$5.00
$27.77
$10.00
$55.54
$20.00
$111
$50.00
$278
$100
$555
$500
$2,777
$1,000
$5,554
$5,000
$27,768
$10,000
$55,536
$100,000
$555,363
$1,000,000
$5,553,633
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1997
Between 1958 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 1038.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 198.0%, against 455.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.49%
$555
Medical care
6.44%
$1,139
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.58%
$573
Food
4.32%
$521
Energy
4.31%
$519
Transportation
4.24%
$505
Apparel
2.84%
$298
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1997
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 1958–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$555
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $226 by
1978, on its way to $555 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $555; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1997: $100 is worth $555 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1997/