$100 in 1958 is worth $564 in 1998,
because prices increased 464.0% over that period, an average of
4.42% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$564
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
464.0%
Average inflation rate
4.42% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$564
Price difference ($100 base)
$464
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1958 → 1998
$564
$100 in 1998 → 1958
$17.73
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1998
Between 1958 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 464.0%, which works out to an average of
4.42% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1998: the 1958 dollar
lost 82.3% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 1998 at the same ratio, 5.64: $1,000 becomes
$5,640, and $10,000 becomes $56,401.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1998
$1.00
$5.64
$5.00
$28.20
$10.00
$56.40
$20.00
$113
$50.00
$282
$100
$564
$500
$2,820
$1,000
$5,640
$5,000
$28,201
$10,000
$56,401
$100,000
$564,014
$1,000,000
$5,640,138
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1998
Between 1958 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 1075.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 198.2%, against 464.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.42%
$564
Medical care
6.35%
$1,175
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.52%
$586
Food
4.27%
$532
Transportation
4.08%
$495
Energy
3.99%
$479
Apparel
2.77%
$298
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1998
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 1958–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$564
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $226 by
1978, on its way to $564 in 1998; 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: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $564; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1998: $100 is worth $564 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1998/