$100 in 1921 is worth $149 in 1953,
because prices increased 49.2% over that period, an average of
1.26% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$149
in 1953
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
49.2%
Average inflation rate
1.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$149
Price difference ($100 base)
$49.16
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1953
26.7
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
$100 in 1921 → 1953
$149
$100 in 1953 → 1921
$67.04
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1953
Between 1921 and 1953, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 26.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 49.2%, which works out to an average of
1.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.67 buys in 1953: the 1921 dollar
lost 33.0% of its purchasing power over
these 32 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 1953 at the same ratio, 1.49: $1,000 becomes
$1,492, and $10,000 becomes $14,916.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1953
$1.00
$1.49
$5.00
$7.46
$10.00
$14.92
$20.00
$29.83
$50.00
$74.58
$100
$149
$500
$746
$1,000
$1,492
$5,000
$7,458
$10,000
$14,916
$100,000
$149,162
$1,000,000
$1,491,620
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1953
Between 1921 and 1953, food rose the most, up 78.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 29.8%, against 49.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1953, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.26%
$149
Food
1.82%
$178
Apparel
0.82%
$130
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 1953
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 1921–1953 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
1950–1953
3.47%
10.8%
$149
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $80.45 by
1937, on its way to $149 in 1953; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1953
In 1953, prices rose 0.8% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $149; the year's average CPI of 26.7 is the level
behind every 1953 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% in 1953, down from 1952’s 1.9% as
fighting in Korea wound toward a truce and three years of wartime buying
pressure finally eased. The year’s biggest shock came from Moscow: Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin died March 5 after nearly three decades in power, the
first change of Soviet leadership since the 1920s, opening a period of
uncertainty over how his successors would deal with the West. Washington
used the calmer backdrop to unwind its own wartime machinery. Authority
for the price and wage controls imposed in 1951 lapsed that spring, as the
Eisenhower administration, which favored free markets over controls, wound
down the Office of Price Stabilization. The war itself ended, on paper,
that July: negotiators signed an armistice July 27 at Panmunjom, halting
the fighting roughly along the original border near the 38th parallel. No
formal peace treaty ever followed, and North and South Korea remain
technically at war. Consumer prices finished 1953 169.7% 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 1953: $100 is worth $149 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1953/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1953. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1953/