$100 in 1937 is worth $201 in 1958,
because prices increased 100.7% over that period, an average of
3.37% a year.
$100 in 1937 has
the same buying power as
$201
in 1958
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
100.7%
Average inflation rate
3.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$201
Price difference ($100 base)
$101
CPI in 1937
14.4
CPI in 1958
28.9
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
$100 in 1937 → 1958
$201
$100 in 1958 → 1937
$49.83
What happened to prices between 1937 and 1958
Between 1937 and 1958, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.4 to 28.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 100.7%, which works out to an average of
3.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1937 bought what
$0.50 buys in 1958: the 1937 dollar
lost 50.2% of its purchasing power over
these 21 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% in 1937, the fastest pace since before the
Depression and the fourth straight year of gains, leaving prices 10.8% above
their 1933 trough though still 15.8% below the
1929 peak. The recovery did not last the year. The National
Bureau of Economic Research dates a new business cycle peak to that May, the
start of what became known as the Recession of 1937-38. Policy tightened on
two fronts at once: the Federal Reserve had doubled bank reserve
requirements over the preceding year to head off inflation it worried was
building, and the federal government pulled back its own spending even as
new Social Security payroll taxes began draining money from paychecks
months before the first benefit checks went out. Together they choked off a
recovery that had not yet reached its pre-Depression footing. Not every
milestone that year was economic. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic
on May 27 after four years of construction, at the time the longest
suspension bridge span in the world, a rare bright spot in a year that would
end with the economy sliding backward again. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
Every 1937 amount converts to 1958 at the same ratio, 2.01: $1,000 becomes
$2,007, and $10,000 becomes $20,069.
Amount in 1937
Value in 1958
$1.00
$2.01
$5.00
$10.03
$10.00
$20.07
$20.00
$40.14
$50.00
$100
$100
$201
$500
$1,003
$1,000
$2,007
$5,000
$10,035
$10,000
$20,069
$100,000
$200,694
$1,000,000
$2,006,944
Inflation by spending category, 1937–1958
Between 1937 and 1958, food rose the most, up 130.5%, while transportation rose the least, up 97.2%, against 100.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1937
spending costs in 1958, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1937 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.37%
$201
Food
4.06%
$231
Apparel
3.42%
$203
Medical care
3.36%
$200
Transportation
3.29%
$197
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1937: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1937 to 1958
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1937–1958 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1937, at end
1937–1940
-0.93%
-2.8%
$97.22
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$167
1950–1958
2.30%
19.9%
$201
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1937
$100 from 1937 had already become $155 by
1947, on its way to $201 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 1937 had the buying
power of $201; 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 1937 to 1958: $100 is worth $201 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1958/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1937 to 1958. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1937-to-1958/