$100 in 1920 is worth $548 in 1986,
because prices increased 448.0% over that period, an average of
2.61% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$548
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
448.0%
Average inflation rate
2.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$548
Price difference ($100 base)
$448
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1920 → 1986
$548
$100 in 1986 → 1920
$18.25
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1986
Between 1920 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 448.0%, which works out to an average of
2.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1986: the 1920 dollar
lost 81.8% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 1986 at the same ratio, 5.48: $1,000 becomes
$5,480, and $10,000 becomes $54,800.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1986
$1.00
$5.48
$5.00
$27.40
$10.00
$54.80
$20.00
$110
$50.00
$274
$100
$548
$500
$2,740
$1,000
$5,480
$5,000
$27,400
$10,000
$54,800
$100,000
$548,000
$1,000,000
$5,480,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1986
Between 1920 and 1986, food rose the most, up 419.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 145.7%, against 448.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.61%
$548
Food
2.53%
$519
Apparel
1.37%
$246
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 1986
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 1920–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$548
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $134 by
1955, on its way to $548 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $548; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1986: $100 is worth $548 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1986/