$100 in 1920 is worth $886 in 2001,
because prices increased 785.5% over that period, an average of
2.73% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$886
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
785.5%
Average inflation rate
2.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$886
Price difference ($100 base)
$786
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1920 → 2001
$886
$100 in 2001 → 1920
$11.29
What happened to prices between 1920 and 2001
Between 1920 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 785.5%, which works out to an average of
2.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2001: the 1920 dollar
lost 88.7% of its purchasing power over
these 81 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 2001 at the same ratio, 8.86: $1,000 becomes
$8,855, and $10,000 becomes $88,550.
Amount in 1920
Value in 2001
$1.00
$8.86
$5.00
$44.28
$10.00
$88.55
$20.00
$177
$50.00
$443
$100
$886
$500
$4,428
$1,000
$8,855
$5,000
$44,275
$10,000
$88,550
$100,000
$885,500
$1,000,000
$8,855,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–2001
Between 1920 and 2001, food rose the most, up 724.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.4%, against 785.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.73%
$886
Food
2.64%
$824
Apparel
1.35%
$295
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 2001
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 1920–2001 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$861
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$886
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $148 by
1960, on its way to $886 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $886; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 2001: $100 is worth $886 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2001/