$100 in 1958 is worth $1,054 in 2023,
because prices increased 954.3% over that period, an average of
3.69% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$1,054
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
954.3%
Average inflation rate
3.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,054
Price difference ($100 base)
$954
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1958 → 2023
$1,054
$100 in 2023 → 1958
$9.48
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2023
Between 1958 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 954.3%, which works out to an average of
3.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2023: the 1958 dollar
lost 90.5% of its purchasing power over
these 65 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 2023 at the same ratio, 10.54: $1,000 becomes
$10,543, and $10,000 becomes $105,433.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2023
$1.00
$10.54
$5.00
$52.72
$10.00
$105
$20.00
$211
$50.00
$527
$100
$1,054
$500
$5,272
$1,000
$10,543
$5,000
$52,717
$10,000
$105,433
$100,000
$1,054,332
$1,000,000
$10,543,322
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2023
Between 1958 and 2023, medical care rose the most, up 2565.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 192.8%, against 954.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.69%
$1,054
Medical care
5.18%
$2,665
Energy
4.05%
$1,318
Food
3.71%
$1,069
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.67%
$1,042
Transportation
3.50%
$933
Apparel
1.67%
$293
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2023
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 1958–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$896
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$1,054
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $409 by
1988, on its way to $1,054 in 2023; 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $1,054; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2023: $100 is worth $1,054 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2023/