$100 in 1921 is worth $125 in 1947,
because prices increased 24.6% over that period, an average of
0.85% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$125
in 1947
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
24.6%
Average inflation rate
0.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$125
Price difference ($100 base)
$24.58
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1947
22.3
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1947
14.36%
$100 in 1921 → 1947
$125
$100 in 1947 → 1921
$80.27
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1947
Between 1921 and 1947, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 22.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 24.6%, which works out to an average of
0.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.80 buys in 1947: the 1921 dollar
lost 19.7% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 1947 at the same ratio, 1.25: $1,000 becomes
$1,246, and $10,000 becomes $12,458.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1947
$1.00
$1.25
$5.00
$6.23
$10.00
$12.46
$20.00
$24.92
$50.00
$62.29
$100
$125
$500
$623
$1,000
$1,246
$5,000
$6,229
$10,000
$12,458
$100,000
$124,581
$1,000,000
$1,245,810
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1947
Between 1921 and 1947, food rose the most, up 51.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 20.2%, against 24.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1947, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.85%
$125
Food
1.61%
$152
Apparel
0.71%
$120
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 1947
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 6.88% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1947 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1921, at end
1921–1930
-0.77%
-6.7%
$93.30
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$78.21
1940–1947
6.88%
59.3%
$125
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $74.86 by
1934, on its way to $125 in 1947; 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 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1947, prices rose 14.4% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $125; the year's average CPI of 22.3 is the level
behind every 1947 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 14.4% in 1947, up from 1946’s 8.3% and
the fastest annual increase since 1920, as the last of the wartime price
controls disappeared and a year of strikes, wage catch-up, and lingering
shortages hit consumers all at once. Congress answered the previous year’s
strike wave that June, overriding President Truman’s veto to pass the
Taft-Hartley Act, which banned secondary boycotts and the closed shop and
let states adopt “right-to-work” laws curbing union power. American
attention was also turning outward. In a June 5 speech at Harvard,
Secretary of State George Marshall outlined a U.S.-funded plan to rebuild
Western Europe’s economies, an effort that would become known as the
Marshall Plan once Congress funded it the following year. The government
reorganized itself for the confrontation with the Soviet Union that plan was
partly designed to prevent: the National Security Act, signed July 26,
created the Department of Defense, the Air Force as a separate service, the
Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Council. Consumer
prices stood 125.3% above their 1913 level and 30.4% above
1929’s pre-Depression peak, up from just 1.2% above it four
years earlier. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage
stayed at 40 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1947: $100 is worth $125 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1947/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1947. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1947/