$100 in 1958 is worth $576 in 1999,
because prices increased 476.5% over that period, an average of
4.37% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$576
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
476.5%
Average inflation rate
4.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$576
Price difference ($100 base)
$476
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1958 → 1999
$576
$100 in 1999 → 1958
$17.35
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1999
Between 1958 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 476.5%, which works out to an average of
4.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1999: the 1958 dollar
lost 82.7% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1999 at the same ratio, 5.76: $1,000 becomes
$5,765, and $10,000 becomes $57,647.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1999
$1.00
$5.76
$5.00
$28.82
$10.00
$57.65
$20.00
$115
$50.00
$288
$100
$576
$500
$2,882
$1,000
$5,765
$5,000
$28,824
$10,000
$57,647
$100,000
$576,471
$1,000,000
$5,764,706
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1999
Between 1958 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 1116.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 194.4%, against 476.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.37%
$576
Medical care
6.28%
$1,217
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.46%
$598
Food
4.21%
$543
Transportation
4.03%
$505
Energy
3.98%
$496
Apparel
2.67%
$294
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1999
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 1958–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$576
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $226 by
1978, on its way to $576 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $576; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1999: $100 is worth $576 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1999/