$100 in 1921 is worth $161 in 1958,
because prices increased 61.5% over that period, an average of
1.30% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$161
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
61.5%
Average inflation rate
1.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$161
Price difference ($100 base)
$61.45
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1921 → 1958
$161
$100 in 1958 → 1921
$61.94
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1958
Between 1921 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 61.5%, which works out to an average of
1.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.62 buys in 1958: the 1921 dollar
lost 38.1% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 1958 at the same ratio, 1.61: $1,000 becomes
$1,615, and $10,000 becomes $16,145.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1958
$1.00
$1.61
$5.00
$8.07
$10.00
$16.15
$20.00
$32.29
$50.00
$80.73
$100
$161
$500
$807
$1,000
$1,615
$5,000
$8,073
$10,000
$16,145
$100,000
$161,453
$1,000,000
$1,614,525
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1958
Between 1921 and 1958, food rose the most, up 89.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 34.3%, against 61.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.30%
$161
Food
1.75%
$190
Apparel
0.80%
$134
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 1958
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 1921–1958 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
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$161
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 $161 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 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: 1958
In 1958, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $161; 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 1921 to 1958: $100 is worth $161 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1958/