$100 in 1932 is worth $211 in 1958,
because prices increased 110.9% over that period, an average of
2.91% a year.
$100 in 1932 has
the same buying power as
$211
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
110.9%
Average inflation rate
2.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$211
Price difference ($100 base)
$111
CPI in 1932
13.7
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1932
-9.87%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1932 → 1958
$211
$100 in 1958 → 1932
$47.40
What happened to prices between 1932 and 1958
Between 1932 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 110.9%, which works out to an average of
2.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1932 bought what
$0.47 buys in 1958: the 1932 dollar
lost 52.6% of its purchasing power over
these 26 years.
Consumer prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the steepest single-year drop in the
CPI’s history to that point and the third straight year of decline following
1930 and 1931. Wages, farm incomes, and
industrial output all kept falling, and Congress tried to arrest the credit
collapse by creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation that January,
capitalized at $500 million with authority to borrow up to $1.5 billion to
lend directly to banks, railroads, and other struggling businesses. Relief
did not reach ordinary households as quickly. That summer, tens of thousands
of World War I veterans and their families camped in Washington demanding
early payment of a service bonus not due until 1945; in July, U.S. Army
troops under General Douglas MacArthur forcibly dispersed the encampment, an
episode that badly damaged the Hoover administration’s standing months
before an election it was already losing. Voters delivered their verdict on
November 8, electing Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide over the
incumbent Hoover on a promise of relief and a “new deal for the American
people.” Roosevelt would not take office until the following March, leaving
a long and difficult transition during the depths of the crisis. First-class
postage rose from 2 cents to 3 cents on July 6, the first change to the rate
since 1919.
Every 1932 amount converts to 1958 at the same ratio, 2.11: $1,000 becomes
$2,109, and $10,000 becomes $21,095.
Amount in 1932
Value in 1958
$1.00
$2.11
$5.00
$10.55
$10.00
$21.09
$20.00
$42.19
$50.00
$105
$100
$211
$500
$1,055
$1,000
$2,109
$5,000
$10,547
$10,000
$21,095
$100,000
$210,949
$1,000,000
$2,109,489
Inflation by spending category, 1932–1958
Between 1932 and 1958, food rose the most, up 182.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 128.7%, against 110.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1932
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1932 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.91%
$211
Food
4.07%
$282
Apparel
3.23%
$229
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1932: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1932 to 1958
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.27% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1932–1958 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1932, at end
1932–1940
0.27%
2.2%
$102
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$176
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$211
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1932
$100 from 1932 had already become $131 by
1945, on its way to $211 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 5.1% in 1933, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1958, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1932 had the buying
power of $211; 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 1932 to 1958: $100 is worth $211 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1932 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1932-to-1958/