$100 in 1920 is worth $762 in 1995,
because prices increased 662.0% over that period, an average of
2.74% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$762
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
662.0%
Average inflation rate
2.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$762
Price difference ($100 base)
$662
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1920 → 1995
$762
$100 in 1995 → 1920
$13.12
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1995
Between 1920 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 662.0%, which works out to an average of
2.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1995: the 1920 dollar
lost 86.9% of its purchasing power over
these 75 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 1995 at the same ratio, 7.62: $1,000 becomes
$7,620, and $10,000 becomes $76,200.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1995
$1.00
$7.62
$5.00
$38.10
$10.00
$76.20
$20.00
$152
$50.00
$381
$100
$762
$500
$3,810
$1,000
$7,620
$5,000
$38,100
$10,000
$76,200
$100,000
$762,000
$1,000,000
$7,620,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1995
Between 1920 and 1995, food rose the most, up 606.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 206.3%, against 662.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.74%
$762
Food
2.64%
$707
Apparel
1.50%
$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 1995
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 1920–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$762
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $134 by
1955, on its way to $762 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $762; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1995: $100 is worth $762 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1995/