$100 in 1922 is worth $388 in 1978,
because prices increased 288.1% over that period, an average of
2.45% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$388
in 1978
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
288.1%
Average inflation rate
2.45% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$388
Price difference ($100 base)
$288
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1978
65.2
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1978
7.59%
$100 in 1922 → 1978
$388
$100 in 1978 → 1922
$25.77
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1978
Between 1922 and 1978, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 65.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 288.1%, which works out to an average of
2.45% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1978: the 1922 dollar
lost 74.2% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 1978 at the same ratio, 3.88: $1,000 becomes
$3,881, and $10,000 becomes $38,810.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1978
$1.00
$3.88
$5.00
$19.40
$10.00
$38.81
$20.00
$77.62
$50.00
$194
$100
$388
$500
$1,940
$1,000
$3,881
$5,000
$19,405
$10,000
$38,810
$100,000
$388,095
$1,000,000
$3,880,952
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1978
Between 1922 and 1978, food rose the most, up 383.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 201.5%, against 288.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1978, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.45%
$388
Food
2.85%
$483
Apparel
1.99%
$301
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 1978
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.70% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1922–1978 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$231
1970–1978
6.70%
68.0%
$388
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $143 by
1950, on its way to $388 in 1978; 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: 1978
In 1978, prices rose 7.6% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $388; the year's average CPI of 65.2 is the level
behind every 1978 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 7.6% in 1978, accelerating for a second straight year as
rising wages, a weakening dollar, and climbing energy costs outpaced the
Federal Reserve’s response. Fed chairman G. William Miller, appointed by
Carter that March, kept interest rates too low to slow the trend, a policy
later cited as one reason inflation kept building toward the following year’s
crisis. California voters responded to their own version of the problem that
June, passing Proposition 13 by nearly two to one to cap property tax rates
after years of rising home values had pushed tax bills up alongside them.
Foreign policy delivered one of the decade’s genuine breakthroughs: President
Carter brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin together for thirteen days of negotiations at Camp David that
September, producing a framework for peace between the two countries that was
signed as a treaty the following March. First-class postage rose to 15 cents
that May 29, a rate that would hold longer than any other in the decade. The
year ended in tragedy: cult leader Jim Jones directed the mass murder-suicide
of more than 900 followers at a remote settlement in Guyana that November 18.
A median household earned $15,064 in 1978, a new home sold for a median
$55,700, and gas averaged 63 cents a gallon. Consumer prices stood 558.6%
above their 1913 level, with the decade’s worst inflation
still to come.
MLA: “Inflation from 1922 to 1978: $100 is worth $388 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1978/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1978. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1978/