$100 in 1920 is worth $455 in 1981,
because prices increased 354.5% over that period, an average of
2.51% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$455
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
354.5%
Average inflation rate
2.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$455
Price difference ($100 base)
$355
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1920 → 1981
$455
$100 in 1981 → 1920
$22.00
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1981
Between 1920 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 354.5%, which works out to an average of
2.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1981: the 1920 dollar
lost 78.0% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1981 at the same ratio, 4.54: $1,000 becomes
$4,545, and $10,000 becomes $45,450.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1981
$1.00
$4.55
$5.00
$22.73
$10.00
$45.45
$20.00
$90.90
$50.00
$227
$100
$455
$500
$2,273
$1,000
$4,545
$5,000
$22,725
$10,000
$45,450
$100,000
$454,500
$1,000,000
$4,545,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1981
Between 1920 and 1981, food rose the most, up 345.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 121.1%, against 354.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.51%
$455
Food
2.48%
$446
Apparel
1.31%
$221
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 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1981 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
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$455
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $121 by
1950, on its way to $455 in 1981; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1981
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $455; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1981: $100 is worth $455 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1981/