$100 in 1958 is worth $676 in 2005,
because prices increased 575.8% over that period, an average of
4.15% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$676
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
575.8%
Average inflation rate
4.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$676
Price difference ($100 base)
$576
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1958 → 2005
$676
$100 in 2005 → 1958
$14.80
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2005
Between 1958 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 575.8%, which works out to an average of
4.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2005: the 1958 dollar
lost 85.2% of its purchasing power over
these 47 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 2005 at the same ratio, 6.76: $1,000 becomes
$6,758, and $10,000 becomes $67,578.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2005
$1.00
$6.76
$5.00
$33.79
$10.00
$67.58
$20.00
$135
$50.00
$338
$100
$676
$500
$3,379
$1,000
$6,758
$5,000
$33,789
$10,000
$67,578
$100,000
$675,779
$1,000,000
$6,757,785
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2005
Between 1958 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 1468.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 167.9%, against 575.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.15%
$676
Medical care
6.03%
$1,569
Energy
4.59%
$824
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.16%
$679
Food
4.00%
$631
Transportation
3.92%
$608
Apparel
2.12%
$268
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2005
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 1958–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$676
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $334 by
1982, on its way to $676 in 2005; 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: 2005
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $676; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2005: $100 is worth $676 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2005/