$100 in 1921 is worth $152 in 1956,
because prices increased 52.0% over that period, an average of
1.20% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$152
in 1956
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
52.0%
Average inflation rate
1.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$152
Price difference ($100 base)
$51.96
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1956
27.2
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1956
1.49%
$100 in 1921 → 1956
$152
$100 in 1956 → 1921
$65.81
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1956
Between 1921 and 1956, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 27.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 52.0%, which works out to an average of
1.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.66 buys in 1956: the 1921 dollar
lost 34.2% of its purchasing power over
these 35 years.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1921 amount converts to 1956 at the same ratio, 1.52: $1,000 becomes
$1,520, and $10,000 becomes $15,196.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1956
$1.00
$1.52
$5.00
$7.60
$10.00
$15.20
$20.00
$30.39
$50.00
$75.98
$100
$152
$500
$760
$1,000
$1,520
$5,000
$7,598
$10,000
$15,196
$100,000
$151,955
$1,000,000
$1,519,553
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1956
Between 1921 and 1956, food rose the most, up 76.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 31.6%, against 52.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1956, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.20%
$152
Food
1.63%
$176
Apparel
0.79%
$132
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1921: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1921 to 1956
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1956 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1921, at end
1921–1930
-0.77%
-6.7%
$93.30
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$78.21
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$135
1950–1956
2.04%
12.9%
$152
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $77.65 by
1939, on its way to $152 in 1956; 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 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1956
In 1956, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $152; the year's average CPI of 27.2 is the level
behind every 1956 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1956, a return to mild inflation after they had
fallen 0.4% in 1955, the only annual decline of the decade. The two years sat
in the calmest stretch of the postwar index, a lull between the Korean War
price surge earlier in the 1950s and the acceleration that would return in
the 1970s. Congress had already raised the wage floor into that calm: the
Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1955, signed the previous August, took
effect March 1 and lifted the federal minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an
hour, the first increase since 1950. Eisenhower signed a longer-lasting
commitment on June 29, the Federal-Aid Highway Act, funding 41,000 miles of
controlled-access highway at 90% federal cost to build the Interstate
System, the largest public-works program the country had undertaken. He won
a second term that November, carrying 41 states and about 57% of the
popular vote in a rematch against Adlai Stevenson. Abroad, the Suez Crisis
broke the calm on the supply side: Egypt nationalized the canal on July 26,
and after Israel invaded the Sinai on October 29 with British and French
forces following, the canal’s closure and damaged pipelines squeezed oil
shipments to Western Europe for months. Consumer prices stood 174.7% above
their 1913 level by 1956, up 94% since 1940
alone, even after a decade that had barely moved the index. First-class
postage held at 3 cents, unchanged since 1932.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1956: $100 is worth $152 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1956/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1956. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1956/