$100 in 1921 is worth $135 in 1948,
because prices increased 34.6% over that period, an average of
1.11% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$135
in 1948
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
34.6%
Average inflation rate
1.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$135
Price difference ($100 base)
$34.64
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1948
24.1
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
$100 in 1921 → 1948
$135
$100 in 1948 → 1921
$74.27
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1948
Between 1921 and 1948, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 34.6%, which works out to an average of
1.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1948: the 1921 dollar
lost 25.7% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1948 at the same ratio, 1.35: $1,000 becomes
$1,346, and $10,000 becomes $13,464.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1948
$1.00
$1.35
$5.00
$6.73
$10.00
$13.46
$20.00
$26.93
$50.00
$67.32
$100
$135
$500
$673
$1,000
$1,346
$5,000
$6,732
$10,000
$13,464
$100,000
$134,637
$1,000,000
$1,346,369
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1948
Between 1921 and 1948, food rose the most, up 64.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 28.0%, against 34.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1948, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.11%
$135
Food
1.85%
$164
Apparel
0.92%
$128
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 1948
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.03% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1948 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
1940–1948
7.03%
72.1%
$135
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 $135 in 1948; 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 1948, prices rose 8.1% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $135; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1948 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 8.1% in 1948, down slightly from 1947’s
14.4% but still the second straight year of sharp postwar inflation now
that wartime price controls were fully gone. Congress moved to stabilize a
different economy that April, passing the Economic Cooperation Act to fund
the plan Secretary of State George Marshall had proposed the year before:
more than $13 billion over four years to rebuild Western Europe and counter
Soviet influence. The Cold War turned tense closer to the plan’s target
that June, when Soviet forces cut off road and rail access to the
Western-controlled sectors of Berlin. American and British aircraft
responded almost immediately with an airlift of food, fuel, and supplies
that would keep the city running for nearly a year. Domestic politics
produced its own upset that November: nearly every poll and pundit had
predicted a Republican win, but Harry Truman defeated New York Governor
Thomas Dewey, handing the Chicago Tribune its famously wrong “Dewey Defeats
Truman” headline. Consumer prices finished the year 143.4% above their
1913 level and 40.9% above 1929’s
pre-Depression peak. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 40 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1948: $100 is worth $135 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1948/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1948. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1948/