$100 in 1920 is worth $1,256 in 2018,
because prices increased 1155.5% over that period, an average of
2.62% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$1,256
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1155.5%
Average inflation rate
2.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,256
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,156
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1920 → 2018
$1,256
$100 in 2018 → 1920
$7.96
What happened to prices between 1920 and 2018
Between 1920 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1155.5%, which works out to an average of
2.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2018: the 1920 dollar
lost 92.0% of its purchasing power over
these 98 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 2018 at the same ratio, 12.56: $1,000 becomes
$12,555, and $10,000 becomes $125,554.
Amount in 1920
Value in 2018
$1.00
$12.56
$5.00
$62.78
$10.00
$126
$20.00
$251
$50.00
$628
$100
$1,256
$500
$6,278
$1,000
$12,555
$5,000
$62,777
$10,000
$125,554
$100,000
$1,255,535
$1,000,000
$12,555,350
Inflation by spending category, 1920–2018
Between 1920 and 2018, food rose the most, up 1107.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 191.5%, against 1155.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.62%
$1,256
Food
2.57%
$1,207
Apparel
1.10%
$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 2018
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 1920–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$1,256
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $194 by
1970, on its way to $1,256 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $1,256; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 2018: $100 is worth $1,256 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2018/