$100 in 1920 is worth $592 in 1988,
because prices increased 491.5% over that period, an average of
2.65% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$592
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
491.5%
Average inflation rate
2.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$592
Price difference ($100 base)
$492
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1920 → 1988
$592
$100 in 1988 → 1920
$16.91
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1988
Between 1920 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 491.5%, which works out to an average of
2.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1988: the 1920 dollar
lost 83.1% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 1988 at the same ratio, 5.92: $1,000 becomes
$5,915, and $10,000 becomes $59,150.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1988
$1.00
$5.92
$5.00
$29.58
$10.00
$59.15
$20.00
$118
$50.00
$296
$100
$592
$500
$2,958
$1,000
$5,915
$5,000
$29,575
$10,000
$59,150
$100,000
$591,500
$1,000,000
$5,915,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1988
Between 1920 and 1988, food rose the most, up 462.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 167.7%, against 491.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.65%
$592
Food
2.57%
$563
Apparel
1.46%
$268
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 1988
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 1920–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$592
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $134 by
1955, on its way to $592 in 1988; 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: 1988
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $592; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1988: $100 is worth $592 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1988/