$100 in 1922 is worth $178 in 1961,
because prices increased 78.0% over that period, an average of
1.49% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$178
in 1961
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
78.0%
Average inflation rate
1.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$178
Price difference ($100 base)
$77.98
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1961
29.9
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
$100 in 1922 → 1961
$178
$100 in 1961 → 1922
$56.19
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1961
Between 1922 and 1961, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 29.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 78.0%, which works out to an average of
1.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.56 buys in 1961: the 1922 dollar
lost 43.8% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1961 at the same ratio, 1.78: $1,000 becomes
$1,780, and $10,000 becomes $17,798.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1961
$1.00
$1.78
$5.00
$8.90
$10.00
$17.80
$20.00
$35.60
$50.00
$88.99
$100
$178
$500
$890
$1,000
$1,780
$5,000
$8,899
$10,000
$17,798
$100,000
$177,976
$1,000,000
$1,779,762
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1961
Between 1922 and 1961, food rose the most, up 104.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 70.7%, against 78.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1961, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.49%
$178
Food
1.85%
$204
Apparel
1.38%
$171
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 1961
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 1922–1961 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$176
1960–1961
1.01%
1.0%
$178
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $97.02 by
1942, on its way to $178 in 1961; 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: 1961
In 1961, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $178; the year's average CPI of 29.9 is the level
behind every 1961 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1961: $100 is worth $178 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1961/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1961. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1961/