$100 in 1936 is worth $208 in 1958,
because prices increased 107.9% over that period, an average of
3.38% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$208
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
107.9%
Average inflation rate
3.38% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$208
Price difference ($100 base)
$108
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1936 → 1958
$208
$100 in 1958 → 1936
$48.10
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1958
Between 1936 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 107.9%, which works out to an average of
3.38% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.48 buys in 1958: the 1936 dollar
lost 51.9% of its purchasing power over
these 22 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1936, a third straight annual increase and part
of a slow, steady climb back from the 1933 trough, though
prices and the broader economy still had not fully recovered to their
pre-Depression levels. Voters delivered their verdict on that recovery in
November, reelecting Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican Alf Landon in one
of the most lopsided elections in U.S. history: Roosevelt carried 46 of 48
states and won the Electoral College 523 to 8, a broad public endorsement of
the New Deal. Public works kept advancing that year, too. Hoover Dam, one of
the era’s signature projects, had been dedicated in September 1935, but its
first generators did not begin sending electricity over transmission lines
to Los Angeles until October 1936, a milestone that showed how long even a
celebrated project took to reach full operation. Consumer prices ended the
year 40.4% above their 1913 level, still 18.7% below the
1929 peak, a gap that would keep narrowing until a sharp new recession
interrupted the recovery the following year. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
Every 1936 amount converts to 1958 at the same ratio, 2.08: $1,000 becomes
$2,079, and $10,000 becomes $20,791.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1958
$1.00
$2.08
$5.00
$10.40
$10.00
$20.79
$20.00
$41.58
$50.00
$104
$100
$208
$500
$1,040
$1,000
$2,079
$5,000
$10,396
$10,000
$20,791
$100,000
$207,914
$1,000,000
$2,079,137
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1958
Between 1936 and 1958, food rose the most, up 139.7%, while transportation rose the least, up 100.0%, against 107.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.38%
$208
Food
4.05%
$240
Apparel
3.48%
$212
Medical care
3.25%
$202
Transportation
3.20%
$200
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1936: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1936 to 1958
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1958 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1936, at end
1936–1940
0.18%
0.7%
$101
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$173
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$208
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $160 by
1947, on its way to $208 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 1936 had the buying
power of $208; 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 1936 to 1958: $100 is worth $208 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1958/