$100 in 1917 is worth $226 in 1958,
because prices increased 125.8% over that period, an average of
2.01% a year.
$100 in 1917 has
the same buying power as
$226
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
125.8%
Average inflation rate
2.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$226
Price difference ($100 base)
$126
CPI in 1917
12.8
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1917
17.43%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1917 → 1958
$226
$100 in 1958 → 1917
$44.29
What happened to prices between 1917 and 1958
Between 1917 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 12.8 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 125.8%, which works out to an average of
2.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1917 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1958: the 1917 dollar
lost 55.7% of its purchasing power over
these 41 years.
1917 is when World War I inflation stopped being a background trend and
became the dominant fact of American economic life. Consumer prices rose
17.4% for the year, more than double the previous year’s already sharp
increase, as the country’s April 6 entry into the war layered federal war
spending on top of an economy already strained by military demand and
worker shortages. Congress paid for the war with the War Revenue Act that
October, which sharply raised income taxes, created a new tax on wartime
business profits, and, in a small but very visible change for ordinary
households, raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 2 cents to 3 cents
that November, the rate’s first move since 1885. Herbert Hoover took over
the new Food Administration in August and asked Americans to conserve food
voluntarily rather than face formal rationing, a campaign that became
famous enough that “Hooverize” entered the language as a verb for cutting
back. None of it slowed prices much: the 17.4% increase would be topped
again the very next year, in 1918.
Every 1917 amount converts to 1958 at the same ratio, 2.26: $1,000 becomes
$2,258, and $10,000 becomes $22,578.
Amount in 1917
Value in 1958
$1.00
$2.26
$5.00
$11.29
$10.00
$22.58
$20.00
$45.16
$50.00
$113
$100
$226
$500
$1,129
$1,000
$2,258
$5,000
$11,289
$10,000
$22,578
$100,000
$225,781
$1,000,000
$2,257,812
Inflation by spending category, 1917–1958
Between 1917 and 1958, apparel rose the most, up 120.8%, while food rose the least, up 108.3%, against 125.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1917
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1917 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.01%
$226
Apparel
1.95%
$221
Food
1.81%
$208
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1917: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1917 to 1958
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.04% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1917–1958 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1917, at end
1917–1920
16.04%
56.3%
$156
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$130
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$109
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$188
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$226
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1917
$100 from 1917 had already become $113 by
1937, on its way to $226 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 1917 had the buying
power of $226; 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 1917 to 1958: $100 is worth $226 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1917 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1917-to-1958/