$100 in 1920 is worth $303 in 1977,
because prices increased 203.0% over that period, an average of
1.96% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$303
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
203.0%
Average inflation rate
1.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$303
Price difference ($100 base)
$203
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1920 → 1977
$303
$100 in 1977 → 1920
$33.00
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1977
Between 1920 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 203.0%, which works out to an average of
1.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.33 buys in 1977: the 1920 dollar
lost 67.0% of its purchasing power over
these 57 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 1977 at the same ratio, 3.03: $1,000 becomes
$3,030, and $10,000 becomes $30,300.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1977
$1.00
$3.03
$5.00
$15.15
$10.00
$30.30
$20.00
$60.60
$50.00
$152
$100
$303
$500
$1,515
$1,000
$3,030
$5,000
$15,150
$10,000
$30,300
$100,000
$303,000
$1,000,000
$3,030,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1977
Between 1920 and 1977, food rose the most, up 211.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 82.4%, against 203.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.96%
$303
Food
2.02%
$312
Apparel
1.06%
$182
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 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1977 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
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$303
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $121 by
1948, on its way to $303 in 1977; 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: 1977
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $303; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1977: $100 is worth $303 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1977/