$100 in 1958 is worth $794 in 2012,
because prices increased 694.4% over that period, an average of
3.91% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$794
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
694.4%
Average inflation rate
3.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$794
Price difference ($100 base)
$694
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1958 → 2012
$794
$100 in 2012 → 1958
$12.59
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2012
Between 1958 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 694.4%, which works out to an average of
3.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2012: the 1958 dollar
lost 87.4% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 2012 at the same ratio, 7.94: $1,000 becomes
$7,944, and $10,000 becomes $79,444.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2012
$1.00
$7.94
$5.00
$39.72
$10.00
$79.44
$20.00
$159
$50.00
$397
$100
$794
$500
$3,972
$1,000
$7,944
$5,000
$39,722
$10,000
$79,444
$100,000
$794,443
$1,000,000
$7,944,429
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2012
Between 1958 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 1914.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 183.1%, against 694.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.91%
$794
Medical care
5.72%
$2,014
Energy
4.62%
$1,145
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.87%
$776
Food
3.86%
$774
Transportation
3.83%
$760
Apparel
1.95%
$283
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2012
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 1958–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$794
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $360 by
1984, on its way to $794 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $794; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2012: $100 is worth $794 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2012/