$100 in 1958 is worth $869 in 2018,
because prices increased 768.9% over that period, an average of
3.67% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$869
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
768.9%
Average inflation rate
3.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$869
Price difference ($100 base)
$769
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1958 → 2018
$869
$100 in 2018 → 1958
$11.51
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2018
Between 1958 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 768.9%, which works out to an average of
3.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2018: the 1958 dollar
lost 88.5% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 2018 at the same ratio, 8.69: $1,000 becomes
$8,689, and $10,000 becomes $86,888.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2018
$1.00
$8.69
$5.00
$43.44
$10.00
$86.89
$20.00
$174
$50.00
$434
$100
$869
$500
$4,344
$1,000
$8,689
$5,000
$43,444
$10,000
$86,888
$100,000
$868,882
$1,000,000
$8,688,824
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2018
Between 1958 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 2252.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 181.7%, against 768.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.67%
$869
Medical care
5.40%
$2,353
Energy
3.95%
$1,023
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.67%
$870
Food
3.61%
$840
Transportation
3.38%
$737
Apparel
1.74%
$282
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2018
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 1958–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$869
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $409 by
1988, on its way to $869 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $869; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2018: $100 is worth $869 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2018/