$100 in 1921 is worth $80.45 in 1937,
because prices declined 19.6% over that period, an average of
1.35% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$80.45
in 1937
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
-19.6%
Average inflation rate
-1.35% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$80.45
Price difference ($100 base)
-$19.55
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1937
14.4
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1937
3.60%
$100 in 1921 → 1937
$80.45
$100 in 1937 → 1921
$124
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1937
Between 1921 and 1937, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 14.4.
Cumulatively, prices declined 19.6%, which works out to an average of
-1.35% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$1.24 buys in 1937: the 1921 dollar
gained 24.3% in purchasing power over
these 16 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 1937 at the same ratio, 0.80: $1,000 becomes
$804, and $10,000 becomes $8,045.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1937
$1.00
$0.80
$5.00
$4.02
$10.00
$8.04
$20.00
$16.09
$50.00
$40.22
$100
$80.45
$500
$402
$1,000
$804
$5,000
$4,022
$10,000
$8,045
$100,000
$80,447
$1,000,000
$804,469
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1937
Every category fell between 1921 and 1937: apparel the most, down 33.7%, and food the least, down 17.6%. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1937, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
-1.35%
$80.45
Food
-1.20%
$82.39
Apparel
-2.54%
$66.27
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 1937
Prices fell throughout this span: most slowly in the 1920s (0.8% a year) and fastest in the 1930s (2.1% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1937 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1921, at end
1921–1930
-0.77%
-6.7%
$93.30
1930–1937
-2.09%
-13.8%
$80.45
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $95.53 by
1929, on its way to $80.45 in 1937; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.6% in 1937, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1937, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $80.45; the year's average CPI of 14.4 is the level
behind every 1937 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% in 1937, the fastest pace since before the
Depression and the fourth straight year of gains, leaving prices 10.8% above
their 1933 trough though still 15.8% below the
1929 peak. The recovery did not last the year. The National
Bureau of Economic Research dates a new business cycle peak to that May, the
start of what became known as the Recession of 1937-38. Policy tightened on
two fronts at once: the Federal Reserve had doubled bank reserve
requirements over the preceding year to head off inflation it worried was
building, and the federal government pulled back its own spending even as
new Social Security payroll taxes began draining money from paychecks
months before the first benefit checks went out. Together they choked off a
recovery that had not yet reached its pre-Depression footing. Not every
milestone that year was economic. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic
on May 27 after four years of construction, at the time the longest
suspension bridge span in the world, a rare bright spot in a year that would
end with the economy sliding backward again. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1937: $100 is worth $80.45 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1937/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1937. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1937/