$100 in 1958 is worth $885 in 2019,
because prices increased 784.6% over that period, an average of
3.64% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$885
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
784.6%
Average inflation rate
3.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$885
Price difference ($100 base)
$785
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1958 → 2019
$885
$100 in 2019 → 1958
$11.30
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2019
Between 1958 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 784.6%, which works out to an average of
3.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2019: the 1958 dollar
lost 88.7% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 2019 at the same ratio, 8.85: $1,000 becomes
$8,846, and $10,000 becomes $88,463.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2019
$1.00
$8.85
$5.00
$44.23
$10.00
$88.46
$20.00
$177
$50.00
$442
$100
$885
$500
$4,423
$1,000
$8,846
$5,000
$44,231
$10,000
$88,463
$100,000
$884,626
$1,000,000
$8,846,263
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2019
Between 1958 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 2319.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 178.1%, against 784.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.64%
$885
Medical care
5.36%
$2,419
Energy
3.85%
$1,001
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.65%
$889
Food
3.58%
$855
Transportation
3.32%
$735
Apparel
1.69%
$278
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2019
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 1958–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$885
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $409 by
1988, on its way to $885 in 2019; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $885; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2019: $100 is worth $885 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2019/