$100 in 1926 is worth $152 in 1954,
because prices increased 52.0% over that period, an average of
1.51% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$152
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
52.0%
Average inflation rate
1.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$152
Price difference ($100 base)
$51.98
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1926 → 1954
$152
$100 in 1954 → 1926
$65.80
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1954
Between 1926 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 52.0%, which works out to an average of
1.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.66 buys in 1954: the 1926 dollar
lost 34.2% of its purchasing power over
these 28 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1954 at the same ratio, 1.52: $1,000 becomes
$1,520, and $10,000 becomes $15,198.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1954
$1.00
$1.52
$5.00
$7.60
$10.00
$15.20
$20.00
$30.40
$50.00
$75.99
$100
$152
$500
$760
$1,000
$1,520
$5,000
$7,599
$10,000
$15,198
$100,000
$151,977
$1,000,000
$1,519,774
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1954
Between 1926 and 1954, apparel rose the most, up 66.4%, while food rose the least, up 65.9%, against 52.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.51%
$152
Apparel
1.84%
$166
Food
1.82%
$166
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 to 1954
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 1926–1954 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$136
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$152
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $79.10 by
1940, on its way to $152 in 1954; 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.
In 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $152; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1954: $100 is worth $152 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1954/