$100 in 1920 is worth $412 in 1980,
because prices increased 312.0% over that period, an average of
2.39% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$412
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
312.0%
Average inflation rate
2.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$412
Price difference ($100 base)
$312
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1920 → 1980
$412
$100 in 1980 → 1920
$24.27
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1980
Between 1920 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 312.0%, which works out to an average of
2.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1980: the 1920 dollar
lost 75.7% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 1980 at the same ratio, 4.12: $1,000 becomes
$4,120, and $10,000 becomes $41,200.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1980
$1.00
$4.12
$5.00
$20.60
$10.00
$41.20
$20.00
$82.40
$50.00
$206
$100
$412
$500
$2,060
$1,000
$4,120
$5,000
$20,600
$10,000
$41,200
$100,000
$412,000
$1,000,000
$4,120,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1980
Between 1920 and 1980, food rose the most, up 313.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 110.9%, against 312.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.39%
$412
Food
2.39%
$413
Apparel
1.25%
$211
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 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$412
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $121 by
1950, on its way to $412 in 1980; 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: 1980
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $412; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1980: $100 is worth $412 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1980/