$100 in 1922 is worth $159 in 1953,
because prices increased 58.9% over that period, an average of
1.51% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$159
in 1953
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
58.9%
Average inflation rate
1.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$159
Price difference ($100 base)
$58.93
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1953
26.7
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
$100 in 1922 → 1953
$159
$100 in 1953 → 1922
$62.92
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1953
Between 1922 and 1953, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 26.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 58.9%, which works out to an average of
1.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.63 buys in 1953: the 1922 dollar
lost 37.1% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 1953 at the same ratio, 1.59: $1,000 becomes
$1,589, and $10,000 becomes $15,893.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1953
$1.00
$1.59
$5.00
$7.95
$10.00
$15.89
$20.00
$31.79
$50.00
$79.46
$100
$159
$500
$795
$1,000
$1,589
$5,000
$7,946
$10,000
$15,893
$100,000
$158,929
$1,000,000
$1,589,286
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1953
Between 1922 and 1953, food rose the most, up 89.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 59.6%, against 58.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1953, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.51%
$159
Food
2.09%
$190
Apparel
1.52%
$160
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 1953
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 1922–1953 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
1950–1953
3.47%
10.8%
$159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $83.93 by
1938, on its way to $159 in 1953; 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: 1953
In 1953, prices rose 0.8% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $159; the year's average CPI of 26.7 is the level
behind every 1953 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% in 1953, down from 1952’s 1.9% as
fighting in Korea wound toward a truce and three years of wartime buying
pressure finally eased. The year’s biggest shock came from Moscow: Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin died March 5 after nearly three decades in power, the
first change of Soviet leadership since the 1920s, opening a period of
uncertainty over how his successors would deal with the West. Washington
used the calmer backdrop to unwind its own wartime machinery. Authority
for the price and wage controls imposed in 1951 lapsed that spring, as the
Eisenhower administration, which favored free markets over controls, wound
down the Office of Price Stabilization. The war itself ended, on paper,
that July: negotiators signed an armistice July 27 at Panmunjom, halting
the fighting roughly along the original border near the 38th parallel. No
formal peace treaty ever followed, and North and South Korea remain
technically at war. Consumer prices finished 1953 169.7% 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 1953: $100 is worth $159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1953/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1953. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1953/