$100 in 1922 is worth $172 in 1958,
because prices increased 72.0% over that period, an average of
1.52% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$172
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
72.0%
Average inflation rate
1.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$172
Price difference ($100 base)
$72.02
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1922 → 1958
$172
$100 in 1958 → 1922
$58.13
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1958
Between 1922 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 72.0%, which works out to an average of
1.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.58 buys in 1958: the 1922 dollar
lost 41.9% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 1958 at the same ratio, 1.72: $1,000 becomes
$1,720, and $10,000 becomes $17,202.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1958
$1.00
$1.72
$5.00
$8.60
$10.00
$17.20
$20.00
$34.40
$50.00
$86.01
$100
$172
$500
$860
$1,000
$1,720
$5,000
$8,601
$10,000
$17,202
$100,000
$172,024
$1,000,000
$1,720,238
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1958
Between 1922 and 1958, food rose the most, up 102.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 65.2%, against 72.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.52%
$172
Food
1.98%
$203
Apparel
1.40%
$165
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 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 1922–1958 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
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$172
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $83.33 by
1940, on its way to $172 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 1922 had the buying
power of $172; 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 1922 to 1958: $100 is worth $172 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1958/