$100 in 1922 is worth $188 in 1965,
because prices increased 87.5% over that period, an average of
1.47% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$188
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
87.5%
Average inflation rate
1.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$188
Price difference ($100 base)
$87.50
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1922 → 1965
$188
$100 in 1965 → 1922
$53.33
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1965
Between 1922 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 87.5%, which works out to an average of
1.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.53 buys in 1965: the 1922 dollar
lost 46.7% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 1965 at the same ratio, 1.88: $1,000 becomes
$1,875, and $10,000 becomes $18,750.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1965
$1.00
$1.88
$5.00
$9.38
$10.00
$18.75
$20.00
$37.50
$50.00
$93.75
$100
$188
$500
$938
$1,000
$1,875
$5,000
$9,375
$10,000
$18,750
$100,000
$187,500
$1,000,000
$1,875,000
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1965
Between 1922 and 1965, food rose the most, up 116.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 77.0%, against 87.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.47%
$188
Food
1.81%
$216
Apparel
1.34%
$177
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 1965
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 1922–1965 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
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$188
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $105 by
1944, on its way to $188 in 1965; 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: 1965
In 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $188; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1965: $100 is worth $188 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1965/