$100 in 1958 is worth $745 in 2008,
because prices increased 645.0% over that period, an average of
4.10% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$745
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
645.0%
Average inflation rate
4.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$745
Price difference ($100 base)
$645
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1958 → 2008
$745
$100 in 2008 → 1958
$13.42
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2008
Between 1958 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 645.0%, which works out to an average of
4.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2008: the 1958 dollar
lost 86.6% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 2008 at the same ratio, 7.45: $1,000 becomes
$7,450, and $10,000 becomes $74,499.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2008
$1.00
$7.45
$5.00
$37.25
$10.00
$74.50
$20.00
$149
$50.00
$372
$100
$745
$500
$3,725
$1,000
$7,450
$5,000
$37,250
$10,000
$74,499
$100,000
$744,993
$1,000,000
$7,449,931
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2008
Between 1958 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 1667.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 166.6%, against 645.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.10%
$745
Medical care
5.91%
$1,767
Energy
4.91%
$1,101
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.05%
$728
Food
3.99%
$709
Transportation
3.92%
$684
Apparel
1.98%
$267
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2008
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 1958–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$745
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $334 by
1982, on its way to $745 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $745; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2008: $100 is worth $745 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2008/