$100 in 1958 is worth $755 in 2010,
because prices increased 654.5% over that period, an average of
3.96% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$755
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
654.5%
Average inflation rate
3.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$755
Price difference ($100 base)
$655
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1958 → 2010
$755
$100 in 2010 → 1958
$13.25
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2010
Between 1958 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 654.5%, which works out to an average of
3.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2010: the 1958 dollar
lost 86.7% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 2010 at the same ratio, 7.55: $1,000 becomes
$7,545, and $10,000 becomes $75,452.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2010
$1.00
$7.55
$5.00
$37.73
$10.00
$75.45
$20.00
$151
$50.00
$377
$100
$755
$500
$3,773
$1,000
$7,545
$5,000
$37,726
$10,000
$75,452
$100,000
$754,519
$1,000,000
$7,545,190
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2010
Between 1958 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 1785.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 167.9%, against 654.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.96%
$755
Medical care
5.81%
$1,886
Energy
4.49%
$983
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.94%
$748
Food
3.89%
$727
Transportation
3.74%
$676
Apparel
1.91%
$268
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2010
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 1958–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$755
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $360 by
1984, on its way to $755 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $755; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2010: $100 is worth $755 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2010/