$100 in 1920 is worth $803 in 1997,
because prices increased 702.5% over that period, an average of
2.74% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$803
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
702.5%
Average inflation rate
2.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$803
Price difference ($100 base)
$703
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1920 → 1997
$803
$100 in 1997 → 1920
$12.46
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1997
Between 1920 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 702.5%, which works out to an average of
2.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1997: the 1920 dollar
lost 87.5% of its purchasing power over
these 77 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 1997 at the same ratio, 8.03: $1,000 becomes
$8,025, and $10,000 becomes $80,250.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1997
$1.00
$8.03
$5.00
$40.13
$10.00
$80.25
$20.00
$161
$50.00
$401
$100
$803
$500
$4,013
$1,000
$8,025
$5,000
$40,125
$10,000
$80,250
$100,000
$802,500
$1,000,000
$8,025,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1997
Between 1920 and 1997, food rose the most, up 649.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 208.4%, against 702.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.74%
$803
Food
2.65%
$749
Apparel
1.47%
$308
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 1997
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 1920–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$803
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $148 by
1960, on its way to $803 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $803; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 1997: $100 is worth $803 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1997/