$100 in 1958 is worth $819 in 2014,
because prices increased 719.2% over that period, an average of
3.83% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$819
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
719.2%
Average inflation rate
3.83% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$819
Price difference ($100 base)
$719
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1958 → 2014
$819
$100 in 2014 → 1958
$12.21
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2014
Between 1958 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 719.2%, which works out to an average of
3.83% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2014: the 1958 dollar
lost 87.8% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 2014 at the same ratio, 8.19: $1,000 becomes
$8,192, and $10,000 becomes $81,916.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2014
$1.00
$8.19
$5.00
$40.96
$10.00
$81.92
$20.00
$164
$50.00
$410
$100
$819
$500
$4,096
$1,000
$8,192
$5,000
$40,958
$10,000
$81,916
$100,000
$819,156
$1,000,000
$8,191,557
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2014
Between 1958 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 2013.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 185.9%, against 719.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.83%
$819
Medical care
5.60%
$2,113
Energy
4.43%
$1,133
Food
3.79%
$804
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.79%
$804
Transportation
3.68%
$755
Apparel
1.89%
$286
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2014
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 1958–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$819
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $379 by
1986, on its way to $819 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $819; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2014: $100 is worth $819 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2014/