$100 in 1919 is worth $97.11 in 1922,
because prices declined 2.9% over that period, an average of
0.97% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$97.11
in 1922
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-2.9%
Average inflation rate
-0.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$97.11
Price difference ($100 base)
-$2.89
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1922
16.8
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
$100 in 1919 → 1922
$97.11
$100 in 1922 → 1919
$103
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1922
Between 1919 and 1922, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 16.8.
Cumulatively, prices declined 2.9%, which works out to an average of
-0.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$1.03 buys in 1922: the 1919 dollar
gained 3.0% in purchasing power over
these 3 years.
The fighting in Europe ended in November 1918, but American prices kept
climbing through 1919 almost as fast as they had during the war itself,
rising 14.6% for the year. Wartime price and production controls were being
dismantled, millions of soldiers were returning to the civilian labor
market, and demand that had been held back for years ran into supply that
had not caught up, a combination that kept the cost of living rising even
with the guns silent. Workers, whose pay had fallen behind three straight
years of double-digit inflation, pushed back: a general strike shut down
Seattle in February, Boston’s police force walked out in September, and a
nationwide steel strike that same month drew in roughly 350,000 workers and
ran into the following January. One price did fall that year: first-class
postage reverted to 2 cents on July 1, ending the wartime 3-cent rate that
had funded part of the war effort since late 1917. By year’s end, prices had
risen close to 75% since the CPI’s 1913 starting point,
compressing more than a decade of typical peacetime inflation into six years
of war and its aftermath.
Every 1919 amount converts to 1922 at the same ratio, 0.97: $1,000 becomes
$971, and $10,000 becomes $9,711.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1922
$1.00
$0.97
$5.00
$4.86
$10.00
$9.71
$20.00
$19.42
$50.00
$48.55
$100
$97.11
$500
$486
$1,000
$971
$5,000
$4,855
$10,000
$9,711
$100,000
$97,110
$1,000,000
$971,098
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1922
Every category fell between 1919 and 1922: apparel the most, down 25.4%, and food the least, down 19.9%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1922, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
-0.97%
$97.11
Food
-7.13%
$80.11
Apparel
-9.31%
$74.59
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1919: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1919 to 1922
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.61% a year, and fell in the 1920s (8.3% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1919–1922 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1919, at end
1919–1920
15.61%
15.6%
$116
1920–1922
-8.35%
-16.0%
$97.11
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $116 by
1920, on its way to $97.11 in 1922; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 15.6% in 1920, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1922, prices fell 6.1% and $100 from 1919 had the buying
power of $97.11; the year's average CPI of 16.8 is the level
behind every 1922 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1919 to 1922: $100 is worth $97.11 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1922/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1922. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1922/