$100 in 1920 is worth $1,278 in 2019,
because prices increased 1178.3% over that period, an average of
2.61% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$1,278
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1178.3%
Average inflation rate
2.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,278
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,178
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1920 → 2019
$1,278
$100 in 2019 → 1920
$7.82
What happened to prices between 1920 and 2019
Between 1920 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1178.3%, which works out to an average of
2.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2019: the 1920 dollar
lost 92.2% of its purchasing power over
these 99 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 2019 at the same ratio, 12.78: $1,000 becomes
$12,783, and $10,000 becomes $127,829.
Amount in 1920
Value in 2019
$1.00
$12.78
$5.00
$63.91
$10.00
$128
$20.00
$256
$50.00
$639
$100
$1,278
$500
$6,391
$1,000
$12,783
$5,000
$63,914
$10,000
$127,829
$100,000
$1,278,285
$1,000,000
$12,782,850
Inflation by spending category, 1920–2019
Between 1920 and 2019, food rose the most, up 1130.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 187.8%, against 1178.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.61%
$1,278
Food
2.57%
$1,230
Apparel
1.07%
$288
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 2019
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 1920–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$1,278
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $194 by
1970, on its way to $1,278 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1920 had the buying
power of $1,278; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1920 to 2019: $100 is worth $1,278 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-2019/