$100 in 1920 is worth $72.00 in 1937,
because prices declined 28.0% over that period, an average of
1.91% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$72.00
in 1937
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-28.0%
Average inflation rate
-1.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$72.00
Price difference ($100 base)
-$28.00
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1937
14.4
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
$100 in 1920 → 1937
$72.00
$100 in 1937 → 1920
$139
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1937
Between 1920 and 1937, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 14.4.
Cumulatively, prices declined 28.0%, which works out to an average of
-1.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$1.39 buys in 1937: the 1920 dollar
gained 38.9% in purchasing power over
these 17 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 1937 at the same ratio, 0.72: $1,000 becomes
$720, and $10,000 becomes $7,200.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1937
$1.00
$0.72
$5.00
$3.60
$10.00
$7.20
$20.00
$14.40
$50.00
$36.00
$100
$72.00
$500
$360
$1,000
$720
$5,000
$3,600
$10,000
$7,200
$100,000
$72,000
$1,000,000
$720,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1937
Every category fell between 1920 and 1937: apparel the most, down 49.0%, and food the least, down 37.6%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1937, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.91%
$72.00
Food
-2.74%
$62.38
Apparel
-3.88%
$51.04
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–).
Decade by decade: 1920 to 1937
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (1.8% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (2.1% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1937 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1920, at end
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$83.50
1930–1937
-2.09%
-13.8%
$72.00
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $85.50 by
1928, on its way to $72.00 in 1937; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.6% in 1937, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1937, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $72.00; the year's average CPI of 14.4 is the level
behind every 1937 figure on this page.
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.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1937: $100 is worth $72.00 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1937/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1937. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1937/