$100 in 1920 is worth $702 in 1992,
because prices increased 601.5% over that period, an average of
2.74% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$702
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
601.5%
Average inflation rate
2.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$702
Price difference ($100 base)
$602
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1920 → 1992
$702
$100 in 1992 → 1920
$14.26
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1992
Between 1920 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 601.5%, which works out to an average of
2.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1992: the 1920 dollar
lost 85.7% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 1992 at the same ratio, 7.02: $1,000 becomes
$7,015, and $10,000 becomes $70,150.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1992
$1.00
$7.02
$5.00
$35.08
$10.00
$70.15
$20.00
$140
$50.00
$351
$100
$702
$500
$3,508
$1,000
$7,015
$5,000
$35,075
$10,000
$70,150
$100,000
$701,500
$1,000,000
$7,015,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1992
Between 1920 and 1992, food rose the most, up 556.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 206.0%, against 601.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.74%
$702
Food
2.65%
$657
Apparel
1.57%
$306
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 1992
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 1920–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$702
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $134 by
1955, on its way to $702 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $702; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1992: $100 is worth $702 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1992/