$100 in 1958 is worth $1,085 in 2024,
because prices increased 985.4% over that period, an average of
3.68% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$1,085
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
985.4%
Average inflation rate
3.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,085
Price difference ($100 base)
$985
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1958 → 2024
$1,085
$100 in 2024 → 1958
$9.21
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2024
Between 1958 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 985.4%, which works out to an average of
3.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2024: the 1958 dollar
lost 90.8% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 2024 at the same ratio, 10.85: $1,000 becomes
$10,854, and $10,000 becomes $108,543.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2024
$1.00
$10.85
$5.00
$54.27
$10.00
$109
$20.00
$217
$50.00
$543
$100
$1,085
$500
$5,427
$1,000
$10,854
$5,000
$54,271
$10,000
$108,543
$100,000
$1,085,429
$1,000,000
$10,854,291
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2024
Between 1958 and 2024, medical care rose the most, up 2637.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 194.8%, against 985.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.68%
$1,085
Medical care
5.14%
$2,737
Energy
3.96%
$1,300
Food
3.69%
$1,094
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.67%
$1,078
Transportation
3.46%
$946
Apparel
1.65%
$295
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2024
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 1958–2024 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
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$1,085
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $500 by
1993, on its way to $1,085 in 2024; 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $1,085; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2024: $100 is worth $1,085 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2024/