$100 in 1958 is worth $622 in 2002,
because prices increased 522.5% over that period, an average of
4.24% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$622
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
522.5%
Average inflation rate
4.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$622
Price difference ($100 base)
$522
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1958 → 2002
$622
$100 in 2002 → 1958
$16.06
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2002
Between 1958 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 522.5%, which works out to an average of
4.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2002: the 1958 dollar
lost 83.9% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 2002 at the same ratio, 6.22: $1,000 becomes
$6,225, and $10,000 becomes $62,249.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2002
$1.00
$6.22
$5.00
$31.12
$10.00
$62.25
$20.00
$124
$50.00
$311
$100
$622
$500
$3,112
$1,000
$6,225
$5,000
$31,125
$10,000
$62,249
$100,000
$622,491
$1,000,000
$6,224,913
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2002
Between 1958 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 1286.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 178.0%, against 522.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.24%
$622
Medical care
6.16%
$1,386
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.32%
$644
Food
4.09%
$583
Energy
4.02%
$566
Transportation
3.88%
$535
Apparel
2.35%
$278
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2002
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 1958–2002 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$596
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$622
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $285 by
1980, on its way to $622 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $622; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2002: $100 is worth $622 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2002/