$100 in 1958 is worth $848 in 2017,
because prices increased 748.2% over that period, an average of
3.69% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$848
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
748.2%
Average inflation rate
3.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$848
Price difference ($100 base)
$748
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1958 → 2017
$848
$100 in 2017 → 1958
$11.79
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2017
Between 1958 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 748.2%, which works out to an average of
3.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2017: the 1958 dollar
lost 88.2% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 2017 at the same ratio, 8.48: $1,000 becomes
$8,482, and $10,000 becomes $84,817.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2017
$1.00
$8.48
$5.00
$42.41
$10.00
$84.82
$20.00
$170
$50.00
$424
$100
$848
$500
$4,241
$1,000
$8,482
$5,000
$42,408
$10,000
$84,817
$100,000
$848,166
$1,000,000
$8,481,661
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2017
Between 1958 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 2207.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 181.6%, against 748.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.69%
$848
Medical care
5.46%
$2,307
Energy
3.89%
$951
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.70%
$852
Food
3.65%
$828
Transportation
3.37%
$705
Apparel
1.77%
$282
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2017
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 1958–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$848
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $409 by
1988, on its way to $848 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $848; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2017: $100 is worth $848 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2017/