$100 in 1920 is worth $89.50 in 1921,
because prices declined 10.5% over that period, an average of
10.50% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$89.50
in 1921
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-10.5%
Average inflation rate
-10.50% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$89.50
Price difference ($100 base)
-$10.50
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1921
17.9
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
$100 in 1920 → 1921
$89.50
$100 in 1921 → 1920
$112
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1921
Between 1920 and 1921, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 17.9.
Cumulatively, prices declined 10.5%, which works out to an average of
-10.50% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$1.12 buys in 1921: the 1920 dollar
gained 11.7% in purchasing power over
these 1 years.
1920 was the last year of the inflation that had built since the war began:
consumer prices rose 15.6% for the year, leaving the CPI more than double its
1913 starting level after seven straight years of increases.
The boom behind those increases turned to bust before the year was over. The
Federal Reserve, worried about speculation, pushed its discount rate to a
record 7% that spring, and wholesale prices, which had led the wartime
runup, began collapsing within months. The National Bureau of Economic
Research dates the resulting downturn from January 1920 to July 1921, one of
the shortest but steepest contractions in U.S. history, and consumer prices
followed into outright decline, falling 10.5% in 1921. Two constitutional
changes reshaped the country that year, too. The 18th Amendment’s ban on
alcohol took legal effect January 17, enforced under the Volstead Act
Congress had passed the previous October. Then, on August 18, Tennessee’s
ratification of the 19th Amendment secured women’s right to vote nationwide,
and women cast ballots in a presidential election for the first time that
November, when Warren Harding won on a promise to return the country to
“normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic, and rising prices. First-class
postage held at 2 cents, unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1920 amount converts to 1921 at the same ratio, 0.89: $1,000 becomes
$895, and $10,000 becomes $8,950.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1921
$1.00
$0.89
$5.00
$4.48
$10.00
$8.95
$20.00
$17.90
$50.00
$44.75
$100
$89.50
$500
$447
$1,000
$895
$5,000
$4,475
$10,000
$8,950
$100,000
$89,500
$1,000,000
$895,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1921
Every category fell between 1920 and 1921: food the most, down 24.3%, and apparel the least, down 23.0%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1921, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
-10.50%
$89.50
Apparel
-22.97%
$77.03
Food
-24.29%
$75.71
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1920: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920shrank to $89.50 by 1921; each row
shows the CPI, that year's inflation rate, and the running value.
In 1921, prices fell 10.5% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $89.50; the year's average CPI of 17.9 is the level
behind every 1921 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1921: $100 is worth $89.50 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1921/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1921. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1921/