$100 in 1958 is worth $698 in 2006,
because prices increased 597.6% over that period, an average of
4.13% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$698
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
597.6%
Average inflation rate
4.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$698
Price difference ($100 base)
$598
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1958 → 2006
$698
$100 in 2006 → 1958
$14.34
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2006
Between 1958 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 597.6%, which works out to an average of
4.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2006: the 1958 dollar
lost 85.7% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 2006 at the same ratio, 6.98: $1,000 becomes
$6,976, and $10,000 becomes $69,758.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2006
$1.00
$6.98
$5.00
$34.88
$10.00
$69.76
$20.00
$140
$50.00
$349
$100
$698
$500
$3,488
$1,000
$6,976
$5,000
$34,879
$10,000
$69,758
$100,000
$697,578
$1,000,000
$6,975,779
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2006
Between 1958 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 1532.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 167.9%, against 597.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.13%
$698
Medical care
5.99%
$1,632
Energy
4.72%
$916
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.12%
$696
Food
3.96%
$646
Transportation
3.92%
$633
Apparel
2.07%
$268
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2006
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 1958–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$698
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $334 by
1982, on its way to $698 in 2006; 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: 2006
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $698; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2006: $100 is worth $698 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2006/