$100 in 1920 is worth $785 in 1996,
because prices increased 684.5% over that period, an average of
2.75% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$785
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
684.5%
Average inflation rate
2.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$785
Price difference ($100 base)
$685
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1920 → 1996
$785
$100 in 1996 → 1920
$12.75
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1996
Between 1920 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 684.5%, which works out to an average of
2.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1996: the 1920 dollar
lost 87.3% of its purchasing power over
these 76 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 1996 at the same ratio, 7.85: $1,000 becomes
$7,845, and $10,000 becomes $78,450.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1996
$1.00
$7.85
$5.00
$39.23
$10.00
$78.45
$20.00
$157
$50.00
$392
$100
$785
$500
$3,923
$1,000
$7,845
$5,000
$39,225
$10,000
$78,450
$100,000
$784,500
$1,000,000
$7,845,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1996
Between 1920 and 1996, food rose the most, up 630.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 205.6%, against 684.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.75%
$785
Food
2.65%
$730
Apparel
1.48%
$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 1996
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 1920–1996 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
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$785
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $148 by
1960, on its way to $785 in 1996; 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: 1996
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $785; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1996: $100 is worth $785 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1996/