$100 in 1921 is worth $93.85 in 1922,
because prices declined 6.1% over that period, an average of
6.15% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$93.85
in 1922
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-6.1%
Average inflation rate
-6.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$93.85
Price difference ($100 base)
-$6.15
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1922
16.8
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
$100 in 1921 → 1922
$93.85
$100 in 1922 → 1921
$107
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1922
Between 1921 and 1922, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 16.8.
Cumulatively, prices declined 6.1%, which works out to an average of
-6.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$1.07 buys in 1922: the 1921 dollar
gained 6.5% in purchasing power over
these 1 years.
Consumer prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the mirror image of the wartime
inflation that had more than doubled the cost of living between
1913 and 1920. The Depression of 1920-21, one
of the sharpest contractions in U.S. history, bottomed out that July
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, even though it had
lasted barely eighteen months. Unemployment climbed toward one worker in ten
as businesses cut production and prices to work through wartime inventories,
but the same collapse in prices also meant the recovery, once it started,
had room to run without reigniting inflation. Warren Harding took office
March 4, promising a return to “normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic,
labor unrest, and rapid price swings; his administration moved quickly to
cut top income tax rates and federal spending. Congress also acted on
immigration that year: the Emergency Quota Act, signed May 19, capped annual
arrivals from each country at 3% of that nationality’s population in the
1910 census, the first time the United States had set a numerical ceiling on
immigration. The law favored northern and western Europe and cut total
immigration by more than half compared with prewar levels; Congress
tightened the formula again in 1924. First-class postage held at 2 cents,
unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1921 amount converts to 1922 at the same ratio, 0.94: $1,000 becomes
$939, and $10,000 becomes $9,385.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1922
$1.00
$0.94
$5.00
$4.69
$10.00
$9.39
$20.00
$18.77
$50.00
$46.93
$100
$93.85
$500
$469
$1,000
$939
$5,000
$4,693
$10,000
$9,385
$100,000
$93,855
$1,000,000
$938,547
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1922
Every category fell between 1921 and 1922: apparel the most, down 18.7%, and food the least, down 6.3%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1922, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
-6.15%
$93.85
Food
-6.29%
$93.71
Apparel
-18.67%
$81.33
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1921: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921shrank to $93.85 by 1922; each row
shows the CPI, that year's inflation rate, and the running value.
In 1922, prices fell 6.1% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $93.85; the year's average CPI of 16.8 is the level
behind every 1922 figure on this page.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1922: $100 is worth $93.85 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1922/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1922. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1922/