$100 in 1958 is worth $820 in 2015,
because prices increased 720.1% over that period, an average of
3.76% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$820
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
720.1%
Average inflation rate
3.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$820
Price difference ($100 base)
$720
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1958 → 2015
$820
$100 in 2015 → 1958
$12.19
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2015
Between 1958 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 720.1%, which works out to an average of
3.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2015: the 1958 dollar
lost 87.8% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 2015 at the same ratio, 8.20: $1,000 becomes
$8,201, and $10,000 becomes $82,013.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2015
$1.00
$8.20
$5.00
$41.01
$10.00
$82.01
$20.00
$164
$50.00
$410
$100
$820
$500
$4,101
$1,000
$8,201
$5,000
$41,006
$10,000
$82,013
$100,000
$820,128
$1,000,000
$8,201,280
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2015
Between 1958 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 2068.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 182.3%, against 720.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.76%
$820
Medical care
5.55%
$2,169
Energy
4.02%
$944
Food
3.76%
$819
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.76%
$818
Transportation
3.46%
$696
Apparel
1.84%
$282
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2015
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 1958–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$820
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $379 by
1986, on its way to $820 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $820; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2015: $100 is worth $820 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2015/