$100 in 1922 is worth $173 in 1959,
because prices increased 73.2% over that period, an average of
1.50% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$173
in 1959
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
73.2%
Average inflation rate
1.50% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$173
Price difference ($100 base)
$73.21
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1959
29.1
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
$100 in 1922 → 1959
$173
$100 in 1959 → 1922
$57.73
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1959
Between 1922 and 1959, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 29.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 73.2%, which works out to an average of
1.50% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.58 buys in 1959: the 1922 dollar
lost 42.3% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 1959 at the same ratio, 1.73: $1,000 becomes
$1,732, and $10,000 becomes $17,321.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1959
$1.00
$1.73
$5.00
$8.66
$10.00
$17.32
$20.00
$34.64
$50.00
$86.61
$100
$173
$500
$866
$1,000
$1,732
$5,000
$8,661
$10,000
$17,321
$100,000
$173,214
$1,000,000
$1,732,143
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1959
Between 1922 and 1959, food rose the most, up 99.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 66.7%, against 73.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1959, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.50%
$173
Food
1.88%
$199
Apparel
1.39%
$167
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 1959
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 1922–1959 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
1950–1959
2.12%
20.7%
$173
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 $173 in 1959; 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: 1959
In 1959, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $173; the year's average CPI of 29.1 is the level
behind every 1959 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1959, down sharply from 1958’s
2.8% as the economy recovered briskly from the year before’s recession,
with output and employment both rebounding through the year. The map of
the country changed that year for the first time since 1912: Alaska
joined the union January 3, and Hawaii followed August 21, completing the
50-state United States. Ninety miles from Florida, Cuba changed hands
that January, when Fidel Castro’s guerrilla forces overthrew President
Fulgencio Batista, who fled the country on the 1st; Castro entered Havana
on the 8th, beginning a Communist government that would define Cold War
tensions in the hemisphere for decades. Labor and management fought their
longest battle of the postwar era that summer: the United Steelworkers
walked out July 15 in a dispute over work rules, the longest strike in the
industry’s history, before a federal court granted the Eisenhower
administration a Taft-Hartley back-to-work order that November. Consumer
prices finished the decade 193.9% above their 1913 level,
up 20.7% from where they stood in 1950. First-class
postage held at 4 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.00 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1959: $100 is worth $173 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1959/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1959. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1959/