$100 in 1920 is worth $1,226 in 2017,
because prices increased 1125.6% over that period, an average of
2.62% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$1,226
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1125.6%
Average inflation rate
2.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,226
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,126
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1920 → 2017
$1,226
$100 in 2017 → 1920
$8.16
What happened to prices between 1920 and 2017
Between 1920 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1125.6%, which works out to an average of
2.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2017: the 1920 dollar
lost 91.8% of its purchasing power over
these 97 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 2017 at the same ratio, 12.26: $1,000 becomes
$12,256, and $10,000 becomes $122,560.
Amount in 1920
Value in 2017
$1.00
$12.26
$5.00
$61.28
$10.00
$123
$20.00
$245
$50.00
$613
$100
$1,226
$500
$6,128
$1,000
$12,256
$5,000
$61,280
$10,000
$122,560
$100,000
$1,225,600
$1,000,000
$12,256,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–2017
Between 1920 and 2017, food rose the most, up 1090.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 191.4%, against 1125.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.62%
$1,226
Food
2.59%
$1,191
Apparel
1.11%
$291
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 2017
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 1920–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$1,226
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $194 by
1970, on its way to $1,226 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $1,226; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 2017: $100 is worth $1,226 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2017/