$100 in 1920 is worth $681 in 1991,
because prices increased 581.0% over that period, an average of
2.74% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$681
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
581.0%
Average inflation rate
2.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$681
Price difference ($100 base)
$581
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1920 → 1991
$681
$100 in 1991 → 1920
$14.68
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1991
Between 1920 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 581.0%, which works out to an average of
2.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1991: the 1920 dollar
lost 85.3% of its purchasing power over
these 71 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 1991 at the same ratio, 6.81: $1,000 becomes
$6,810, and $10,000 becomes $68,100.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1991
$1.00
$6.81
$5.00
$34.05
$10.00
$68.10
$20.00
$136
$50.00
$341
$100
$681
$500
$3,405
$1,000
$6,810
$5,000
$34,050
$10,000
$68,100
$100,000
$681,000
$1,000,000
$6,810,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1991
Between 1920 and 1991, food rose the most, up 549.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 198.6%, against 581.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.74%
$681
Food
2.67%
$649
Apparel
1.55%
$299
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 1991
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 1920–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$653
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$681
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $134 by
1955, on its way to $681 in 1991; 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: 1991
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $681; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1991: $100 is worth $681 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1991/