$100 in 1920 is worth $1,200 in 2016,
because prices increased 1100.0% over that period, an average of
2.62% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$1,200
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1100.0%
Average inflation rate
2.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,200
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,100
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1920 → 2016
$1,200
$100 in 2016 → 1920
$8.33
What happened to prices between 1920 and 2016
Between 1920 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1100.0%, which works out to an average of
2.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2016: the 1920 dollar
lost 91.7% of its purchasing power over
these 96 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 2016 at the same ratio, 12.00: $1,000 becomes
$12,000, and $10,000 becomes $120,004.
Amount in 1920
Value in 2016
$1.00
$12.00
$5.00
$60.00
$10.00
$120
$20.00
$240
$50.00
$600
$100
$1,200
$500
$6,000
$1,000
$12,000
$5,000
$60,002
$10,000
$120,004
$100,000
$1,200,035
$1,000,000
$12,000,350
Inflation by spending category, 1920–2016
Between 1920 and 2016, food rose the most, up 1080.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 192.4%, against 1100.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.62%
$1,200
Food
2.60%
$1,181
Apparel
1.12%
$292
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 2016
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 1920–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$1,200
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $194 by
1970, on its way to $1,200 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $1,200; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 2016: $100 is worth $1,200 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2016/