$100 in 1928 is worth $169 in 1958,
because prices increased 69.0% over that period, an average of
1.76% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$169
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
69.0%
Average inflation rate
1.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$169
Price difference ($100 base)
$69.01
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1928 → 1958
$169
$100 in 1958 → 1928
$59.17
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1958
Between 1928 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 69.0%, which works out to an average of
1.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.59 buys in 1958: the 1928 dollar
lost 40.8% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1958 at the same ratio, 1.69: $1,000 becomes
$1,690, and $10,000 becomes $16,901.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1958
$1.00
$1.69
$5.00
$8.45
$10.00
$16.90
$20.00
$33.80
$50.00
$84.50
$100
$169
$500
$845
$1,000
$1,690
$5,000
$8,450
$10,000
$16,901
$100,000
$169,006
$1,000,000
$1,690,058
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1958
Between 1928 and 1958, food rose the most, up 85.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 78.4%, against 69.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.76%
$169
Food
2.08%
$185
Apparel
1.95%
$178
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 1958
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 1928–1958 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
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$169
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $101 by
1943, on its way to $169 in 1958; 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 1958, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $169; the year's average CPI of 28.9 is the level
behind every 1958 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in 1958, down only slightly from
1957’s 3.3% even as the country sank into the sharpest
postwar recession to that point, an early sign that inflation and a
shrinking economy could coexist rather than trade off against each other.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the downturn’s trough to
that April, with unemployment peaking near 7.5% that summer, the worst
reading since the 1930s. The Post Office raised first-class postage to 4
cents that August 1, up from 3 cents, the rate’s first change since 1932.
Washington answered the Soviet Union’s technological lead that summer
too: Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29,
establishing NASA, which opened for business that October 1 to compete
with the Soviet space program after the shock of Sputnik the year before.
Consumer prices finished 1958 191.9% above their 1913
level. The minimum wage held at $1.00 an hour, and first-class postage
rose to 4 cents that August, the first increase since 1932.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1958: $100 is worth $169 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1958/