$100 in 1928 is worth $159 in 1956,
because prices increased 59.1% over that period, an average of
1.67% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$159
in 1956
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
59.1%
Average inflation rate
1.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$159
Price difference ($100 base)
$59.06
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1956
27.2
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1956
1.49%
$100 in 1928 → 1956
$159
$100 in 1956 → 1928
$62.87
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1956
Between 1928 and 1956, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 27.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 59.1%, which works out to an average of
1.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.63 buys in 1956: the 1928 dollar
lost 37.1% of its purchasing power over
these 28 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1928, the second straight year of mild decline
even as the stock market climbed sharply, a widening gap between asset
prices and the cost of living that later economists pointed to as an early
warning sign. The Federal Reserve tightened policy repeatedly over the year,
raising its discount rate in an effort to slow the flood of borrowed money
pouring into stock purchases without derailing the broader economy, a
balancing act it ultimately failed to manage. Herbert Hoover won the
presidential election that November, defeating Democrat Al Smith on a
platform built around continuing the prosperity of the Coolidge years; few
voters or policymakers anticipated how quickly that prosperity would end.
First-class postage remained at 2 cents, a price that had now held for nine
straight years.
Every 1928 amount converts to 1956 at the same ratio, 1.59: $1,000 becomes
$1,591, and $10,000 becomes $15,906.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1956
$1.00
$1.59
$5.00
$7.95
$10.00
$15.91
$20.00
$31.81
$50.00
$79.53
$100
$159
$500
$795
$1,000
$1,591
$5,000
$7,953
$10,000
$15,906
$100,000
$159,064
$1,000,000
$1,590,643
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1956
Between 1928 and 1956, apparel rose the most, up 74.8%, while food rose the least, up 71.8%, against 59.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1956, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.67%
$159
Apparel
2.01%
$175
Food
1.95%
$172
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1928: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1928 to 1956
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 1928–1956 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1928, at end
1928–1930
-1.18%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1956
2.04%
12.9%
$159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $95.32 by
1942, on its way to $159 in 1956; 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 1956, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $159; the year's average CPI of 27.2 is the level
behind every 1956 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1956, a return to mild inflation after they had
fallen 0.4% in 1955, the only annual decline of the decade. The two years sat
in the calmest stretch of the postwar index, a lull between the Korean War
price surge earlier in the 1950s and the acceleration that would return in
the 1970s. Congress had already raised the wage floor into that calm: the
Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1955, signed the previous August, took
effect March 1 and lifted the federal minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an
hour, the first increase since 1950. Eisenhower signed a longer-lasting
commitment on June 29, the Federal-Aid Highway Act, funding 41,000 miles of
controlled-access highway at 90% federal cost to build the Interstate
System, the largest public-works program the country had undertaken. He won
a second term that November, carrying 41 states and about 57% of the
popular vote in a rematch against Adlai Stevenson. Abroad, the Suez Crisis
broke the calm on the supply side: Egypt nationalized the canal on July 26,
and after Israel invaded the Sinai on October 29 with British and French
forces following, the canal’s closure and damaged pipelines squeezed oil
shipments to Western Europe for months. Consumer prices stood 174.7% above
their 1913 level by 1956, up 94% since 1940
alone, even after a decade that had barely moved the index. First-class
postage held at 3 cents, unchanged since 1932.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1956: $100 is worth $159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1956/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1956. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1956/