$100 in 1935 is worth $211 in 1958,
because prices increased 110.9% over that period, an average of
3.30% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$211
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
110.9%
Average inflation rate
3.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$211
Price difference ($100 base)
$111
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1935 → 1958
$211
$100 in 1958 → 1935
$47.40
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1958
Between 1935 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
3.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.47 buys in 1958: the 1935 dollar
lost 52.6% of its purchasing power over
these 23 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
Every 1935 amount converts to 1958 at the same ratio, 2.11: $1,000 becomes
$2,109, and $10,000 becomes $21,095.
Amount in 1935
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, 1935–1958
Between 1935 and 1958, food rose the most, up 143.5%, while transportation rose the least, up 101.4%, against 110.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.30%
$211
Food
3.95%
$244
Apparel
3.37%
$214
Medical care
3.10%
$202
Transportation
3.09%
$201
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1935: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1935 to 1958
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1958 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1935, at end
1935–1940
0.43%
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 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $142 by
1946, 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 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1958, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1935 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 1935 to 1958: $100 is worth $211 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1958/