$100 in 1921 is worth $145 in 1951,
because prices increased 45.3% over that period, an average of
1.25% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$145
in 1951
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
45.3%
Average inflation rate
1.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$145
Price difference ($100 base)
$45.25
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1951
26
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
$100 in 1921 → 1951
$145
$100 in 1951 → 1921
$68.85
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1951
Between 1921 and 1951, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 26.
Cumulatively, prices increased 45.3%, which works out to an average of
1.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.69 buys in 1951: the 1921 dollar
lost 31.2% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1951 at the same ratio, 1.45: $1,000 becomes
$1,453, and $10,000 becomes $14,525.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1951
$1.00
$1.45
$5.00
$7.26
$10.00
$14.53
$20.00
$29.05
$50.00
$72.63
$100
$145
$500
$726
$1,000
$1,453
$5,000
$7,263
$10,000
$14,525
$100,000
$145,251
$1,000,000
$1,452,514
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1951
Between 1921 and 1951, food rose the most, up 77.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 32.2%, against 45.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1951, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.25%
$145
Food
1.93%
$177
Apparel
0.94%
$132
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 1951
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 7.88% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1951 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
1950–1951
7.88%
7.9%
$145
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $77.65 by
1936, on its way to $145 in 1951; 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 1951, prices rose 7.9% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $145; the year's average CPI of 26 is the level
behind every 1951 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1951: $100 is worth $145 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1951/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1951. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1951/