$100 in 1921 is worth $76.54 in 1935,
because prices declined 23.5% over that period, an average of
1.89% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$76.54
in 1935
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-23.5%
Average inflation rate
-1.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$76.54
Price difference ($100 base)
-$23.46
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1935
13.7
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
$100 in 1921 → 1935
$76.54
$100 in 1935 → 1921
$131
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1935
Between 1921 and 1935, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 13.7.
Cumulatively, prices declined 23.5%, which works out to an average of
-1.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$1.31 buys in 1935: the 1921 dollar
gained 30.7% in purchasing power over
these 14 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 1935 at the same ratio, 0.77: $1,000 becomes
$765, and $10,000 becomes $7,654.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1935
$1.00
$0.77
$5.00
$3.83
$10.00
$7.65
$20.00
$15.31
$50.00
$38.27
$100
$76.54
$500
$383
$1,000
$765
$5,000
$3,827
$10,000
$7,654
$100,000
$76,536
$1,000,000
$765,363
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1935
Every category fell between 1921 and 1935: apparel the most, down 37.3%, and food the least, down 22.0%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1935, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.89%
$76.54
Food
-1.76%
$77.99
Apparel
-3.28%
$62.65
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–).
Decade by decade: 1921 to 1935
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.8% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (3.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1935 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1921, at end
1921–1930
-0.77%
-6.7%
$93.30
1930–1935
-3.88%
-18.0%
$76.54
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $95.53 by
1928, on its way to $76.54 in 1935; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.1% in 1934, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1935, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $76.54; the year's average CPI of 13.7 is the level
behind every 1935 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1935: $100 is worth $76.54 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1935/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1935. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1935/