$100 in 1921 is worth $135 in 1950,
because prices increased 34.6% over that period, an average of
1.03% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$135
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
34.6%
Average inflation rate
1.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$135
Price difference ($100 base)
$34.64
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1921 → 1950
$135
$100 in 1950 → 1921
$74.27
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1950
Between 1921 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 34.6%, which works out to an average of
1.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1950: the 1921 dollar
lost 25.7% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1950 at the same ratio, 1.35: $1,000 becomes
$1,346, and $10,000 becomes $13,464.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1950
$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, 1921–1950
Between 1921 and 1950, food rose the most, up 59.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 21.4%, against 34.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.03%
$135
Food
1.63%
$160
Apparel
0.67%
$121
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 1950
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1950 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
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$135
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $76.54 by
1935, on its way to $135 in 1950; 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 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $135; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1950: $100 is worth $135 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1950/