$100 in 1920 is worth $285 in 1976,
because prices increased 184.5% over that period, an average of
1.88% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$285
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
184.5%
Average inflation rate
1.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$285
Price difference ($100 base)
$185
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1920 → 1976
$285
$100 in 1976 → 1920
$35.15
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1976
Between 1920 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 184.5%, which works out to an average of
1.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1976: the 1920 dollar
lost 64.9% of its purchasing power over
these 56 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 1976 at the same ratio, 2.84: $1,000 becomes
$2,845, and $10,000 becomes $28,450.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1976
$1.00
$2.84
$5.00
$14.22
$10.00
$28.45
$20.00
$56.90
$50.00
$142
$100
$285
$500
$1,422
$1,000
$2,845
$5,000
$14,225
$10,000
$28,450
$100,000
$284,500
$1,000,000
$2,845,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1976
Between 1920 and 1976, food rose the most, up 193.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 74.5%, against 184.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.88%
$285
Food
1.94%
$293
Apparel
1.00%
$174
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1976 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1920, at end
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$83.50
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$70.00
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$121
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$148
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$194
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$285
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $121 by
1948, on its way to $285 in 1976; 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 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1976
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $285; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1976: $100 is worth $285 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1976/