$100 in 1958 is worth $1,150 in 2026,
because prices increased 1049.6% over that period, an average of
3.66% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$1,150
in 2026
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1049.6%
Average inflation rate
3.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,150
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,050
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2026
332.243
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2026
3.20%
$100 in 1958 → 2026
$1,150
$100 in 2026 → 1958
$8.70
Uses a partial-year average for the current year; updates with each CPI release.
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2026
Between 1958 and 2026, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 332.243.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1049.6%, which works out to an average of
3.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2026: the 1958 dollar
lost 91.3% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 2026 at the same ratio, 11.50: $1,000 becomes
$11,496, and $10,000 becomes $114,963.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2026
$1.00
$11.50
$5.00
$57.48
$10.00
$115
$20.00
$230
$50.00
$575
$100
$1,150
$500
$5,748
$1,000
$11,496
$5,000
$57,481
$10,000
$114,963
$100,000
$1,149,630
$1,000,000
$11,496,298
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2026
Between 1958 and 2026, medical care rose the most, up 2776.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 205.9%, against 1049.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2026, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.66%
$1,150
Medical care
5.06%
$2,877
Energy
4.04%
$1,479
Food
3.66%
$1,154
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.64%
$1,135
Transportation
3.45%
$1,002
Apparel
1.66%
$306
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2026
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 1958–2026 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
2020–2026
4.25%
28.4%
$1,150
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $500 by
1993, on its way to $1,150 in 2026; 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: 2026
In 2026, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $1,150; the year's average CPI of 332.243 is the level
behind every 2026 figure on this page.
Cite this page
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2026: $100 is worth $1,150 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2026/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2026. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2026/