$100 in 1914 is worth $289 in 1958,
because prices increased 189.0% over that period, an average of
2.44% a year.
$100 in 1914 has
the same buying power as
$289
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
189.0%
Average inflation rate
2.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$289
Price difference ($100 base)
$189
CPI in 1914
10
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1914
1.01%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1914 → 1958
$289
$100 in 1958 → 1914
$34.60
What happened to prices between 1914 and 1958
Between 1914 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 10 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 189.0%, which works out to an average of
2.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1914 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1958: the 1914 dollar
lost 65.4% of its purchasing power over
these 44 years.
Consumer prices barely moved in 1914, rising just 1.0% for the year, even as
the country’s financial plumbing was rebuilt from the ground up. The Federal
Reserve Banks, created by the Federal Reserve Act signed the previous
December, opened their doors on November 16, giving the U.S. a central bank
for the first time since the 1830s. Weeks earlier, the outbreak of war in
Europe had spooked the New York Stock Exchange into closing for more than
four months, the longest shutdown in its history, as officials worried
European investors would dump American securities for gold. Domestically, the
bigger story was labor: Henry Ford’s decision to pay factory workers $5 a
day, announced in January, roughly doubled wages on his assembly lines and
pushed other manufacturers to raise pay just to keep workers from leaving. A
first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, a price that had held since 1885 and
would keep holding for three more years, even as the war reshaping Europe
began pulling the American economy toward the sustained wartime inflation of
1917.
Every 1914 amount converts to 1958 at the same ratio, 2.89: $1,000 becomes
$2,890, and $10,000 becomes $28,900.
Amount in 1914
Value in 1958
$1.00
$2.89
$5.00
$14.45
$10.00
$28.90
$20.00
$57.80
$50.00
$144
$100
$289
$500
$1,445
$1,000
$2,890
$5,000
$14,450
$10,000
$28,900
$100,000
$289,000
$1,000,000
$2,890,000
Inflation by spending category, 1914–1958
Between 1914 and 1958, apparel rose the most, up 197.3%, while food rose the least, up 196.1%, against 189.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1914
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1914 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.44%
$289
Apparel
2.51%
$297
Food
2.50%
$296
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1914: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1914 to 1958
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 12.25% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1914–1958 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1914, at end
1914–1920
12.25%
100.0%
$200
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$167
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$140
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$241
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$289
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1914
$100 from 1914 had already become $139 by
1936, on its way to $289 in 1958; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1958
In 1958, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1914 had the buying
power of $289; the year's average CPI of 28.9 is the level
behind every 1958 figure on this page.
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.
MLA: “Inflation from 1914 to 1958: $100 is worth $289 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1914 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1958/