$100 in 1920 is worth $85.50 in 1928,
because prices declined 14.5% over that period, an average of
1.94% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$85.50
in 1928
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-14.5%
Average inflation rate
-1.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$85.50
Price difference ($100 base)
-$14.50
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1928
17.1
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
$100 in 1920 → 1928
$85.50
$100 in 1928 → 1920
$117
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1928
Between 1920 and 1928, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 17.1.
Cumulatively, prices declined 14.5%, which works out to an average of
-1.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$1.17 buys in 1928: the 1920 dollar
gained 17.0% in purchasing power over
these 8 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 1928 at the same ratio, 0.86: $1,000 becomes
$855, and $10,000 becomes $8,550.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1928
$1.00
$0.86
$5.00
$4.28
$10.00
$8.55
$20.00
$17.10
$50.00
$42.75
$100
$85.50
$500
$428
$1,000
$855
$5,000
$4,275
$10,000
$8,550
$100,000
$85,500
$1,000,000
$855,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1928
Every category fell between 1920 and 1928: apparel the most, down 42.0%, and food the least, down 22.4%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1928, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.94%
$85.50
Food
-3.12%
$77.62
Apparel
-6.58%
$58.00
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 1920 had already become $85.50 by
1924, on its way to $85.50 in 1928; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.3% in 1925, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1928, prices fell 1.7% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $85.50; the year's average CPI of 17.1 is the level
behind every 1928 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1928, the second straight year of mild decline
even as the stock market climbed sharply, a widening gap between asset
prices and the cost of living that later economists pointed to as an early
warning sign. The Federal Reserve tightened policy repeatedly over the year,
raising its discount rate in an effort to slow the flood of borrowed money
pouring into stock purchases without derailing the broader economy, a
balancing act it ultimately failed to manage. Herbert Hoover won the
presidential election that November, defeating Democrat Al Smith on a
platform built around continuing the prosperity of the Coolidge years; few
voters or policymakers anticipated how quickly that prosperity would end.
First-class postage remained at 2 cents, a price that had now held for nine
straight years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1928: $100 is worth $85.50 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1928/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1928. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1928/