$100 in 1922 is worth $155 in 1951,
because prices increased 54.8% over that period, an average of
1.52% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$155
in 1951
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
54.8%
Average inflation rate
1.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$155
Price difference ($100 base)
$54.76
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1951
26
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
$100 in 1922 → 1951
$155
$100 in 1951 → 1922
$64.62
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1951
Between 1922 and 1951, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 26.
Cumulatively, prices increased 54.8%, which works out to an average of
1.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.65 buys in 1951: the 1922 dollar
lost 35.4% of its purchasing power over
these 29 years.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
Every 1922 amount converts to 1951 at the same ratio, 1.55: $1,000 becomes
$1,548, and $10,000 becomes $15,476.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1951
$1.00
$1.55
$5.00
$7.74
$10.00
$15.48
$20.00
$30.95
$50.00
$77.38
$100
$155
$500
$774
$1,000
$1,548
$5,000
$7,738
$10,000
$15,476
$100,000
$154,762
$1,000,000
$1,547,619
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1951
Between 1922 and 1951, food rose the most, up 89.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 62.6%, against 54.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1951, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.52%
$155
Food
2.22%
$189
Apparel
1.69%
$163
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1922: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1922 to 1951
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 7.88% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1922–1951 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1922, at end
1922–1930
-0.07%
-0.6%
$99.40
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$83.33
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$143
1950–1951
7.88%
7.9%
$155
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $82.74 by
1936, on its way to $155 in 1951; 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.
In 1951, prices rose 7.9% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $155; the year's average CPI of 26 is the level
behind every 1951 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1951: $100 is worth $155 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1951/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1951. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1951/