$100 in 1920 is worth $144 in 1958,
because prices increased 44.5% over that period, an average of
0.97% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$144
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
44.5%
Average inflation rate
0.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$144
Price difference ($100 base)
$44.50
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1920 → 1958
$144
$100 in 1958 → 1920
$69.20
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1958
Between 1920 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 44.5%, which works out to an average of
0.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.69 buys in 1958: the 1920 dollar
lost 30.8% of its purchasing power over
these 38 years.
1920 was the last year of the inflation that had built since the war began:
consumer prices rose 15.6% for the year, leaving the CPI more than double its
1913 starting level after seven straight years of increases.
The boom behind those increases turned to bust before the year was over. The
Federal Reserve, worried about speculation, pushed its discount rate to a
record 7% that spring, and wholesale prices, which had led the wartime
runup, began collapsing within months. The National Bureau of Economic
Research dates the resulting downturn from January 1920 to July 1921, one of
the shortest but steepest contractions in U.S. history, and consumer prices
followed into outright decline, falling 10.5% in 1921. Two constitutional
changes reshaped the country that year, too. The 18th Amendment’s ban on
alcohol took legal effect January 17, enforced under the Volstead Act
Congress had passed the previous October. Then, on August 18, Tennessee’s
ratification of the 19th Amendment secured women’s right to vote nationwide,
and women cast ballots in a presidential election for the first time that
November, when Warren Harding won on a promise to return the country to
“normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic, and rising prices. First-class
postage held at 2 cents, unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1920 amount converts to 1958 at the same ratio, 1.44: $1,000 becomes
$1,445, and $10,000 becomes $14,450.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1958
$1.00
$1.44
$5.00
$7.23
$10.00
$14.45
$20.00
$28.90
$50.00
$72.25
$100
$144
$500
$722
$1,000
$1,445
$5,000
$7,225
$10,000
$14,450
$100,000
$144,500
$1,000,000
$1,445,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1958
Between 1920 and 1958, food rose the most, up 43.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 3.5%, against 44.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.97%
$144
Food
0.96%
$144
Apparel
0.09%
$103
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1920: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1920 to 1958
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1958 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1920, at end
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$83.50
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$70.00
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$121
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$144
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $70.50 by
1938, on its way to $144 in 1958; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, 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 1920 had the buying
power of $144; 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 1920 to 1958: $100 is worth $144 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1958/