$100 in 1922 is worth $182 in 1963,
because prices increased 82.1% over that period, an average of
1.47% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$182
in 1963
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
82.1%
Average inflation rate
1.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$182
Price difference ($100 base)
$82.14
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1963
30.6
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
$100 in 1922 → 1963
$182
$100 in 1963 → 1922
$54.90
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1963
Between 1922 and 1963, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 30.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 82.1%, which works out to an average of
1.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.55 buys in 1963: the 1922 dollar
lost 45.1% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 1963 at the same ratio, 1.82: $1,000 becomes
$1,821, and $10,000 becomes $18,214.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1963
$1.00
$1.82
$5.00
$9.11
$10.00
$18.21
$20.00
$36.43
$50.00
$91.07
$100
$182
$500
$911
$1,000
$1,821
$5,000
$9,107
$10,000
$18,214
$100,000
$182,143
$1,000,000
$1,821,429
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1963
Between 1922 and 1963, food rose the most, up 108.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 73.7%, against 82.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1963, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.47%
$182
Food
1.81%
$209
Apparel
1.36%
$174
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 1963
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 1922–1963 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
1960–1963
1.11%
3.4%
$182
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 $182 in 1963; 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: 1963
In 1963, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $182; the year's average CPI of 30.6 is the level
behind every 1963 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1963, up slightly from 1962’s
1.0% as the expansion entered its third year with inflation still low,
conditions that gave Kennedy room to push the large tax cut he had
proposed to Congress. The cost of a first-class stamp rose that January
7, to 5 cents from 4 cents, the first postal rate change since 1958. That
August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a quarter million people
gathered for the March on Washington, building pressure on Congress to
pass the civil rights bill Kennedy had proposed that June. The year ended
in tragedy: Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through
Dallas on November 22, and Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force
One that same afternoon. Johnson would spend the following year pushing
Kennedy’s stalled tax and civil rights agenda through Congress. The
minimum wage rose again that September, to $1.25 an hour, the second step
of the phased increase set two years earlier. Consumer prices finished
1963 209.1% above their 1913 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1963: $100 is worth $182 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1963/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1963. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1963/