$100 in 1920 is worth $1,184 in 2014,
because prices increased 1083.7% over that period, an average of
2.66% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$1,184
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1083.7%
Average inflation rate
2.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,184
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,084
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1920 → 2014
$1,184
$100 in 2014 → 1920
$8.45
What happened to prices between 1920 and 2014
Between 1920 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1083.7%, which works out to an average of
2.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2014: the 1920 dollar
lost 91.6% of its purchasing power over
these 94 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 2014 at the same ratio, 11.84: $1,000 becomes
$11,837, and $10,000 becomes $118,368.
Amount in 1920
Value in 2014
$1.00
$11.84
$5.00
$59.18
$10.00
$118
$20.00
$237
$50.00
$592
$100
$1,184
$500
$5,918
$1,000
$11,837
$5,000
$59,184
$10,000
$118,368
$100,000
$1,183,680
$1,000,000
$11,836,800
Inflation by spending category, 1920–2014
Between 1920 and 2014, food rose the most, up 1055.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 195.9%, against 1083.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.66%
$1,184
Food
2.64%
$1,156
Apparel
1.16%
$296
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 2014
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 1920–2014 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,090
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$1,184
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $158 by
1965, on its way to $1,184 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $1,184; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 2014: $100 is worth $1,184 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2014/