$100 in 1921 is worth $167 in 1961,
because prices increased 67.0% over that period, an average of
1.29% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$167
in 1961
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
67.0%
Average inflation rate
1.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$167
Price difference ($100 base)
$67.04
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1961
29.9
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
$100 in 1921 → 1961
$167
$100 in 1961 → 1921
$59.87
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1961
Between 1921 and 1961, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 29.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 67.0%, which works out to an average of
1.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.60 buys in 1961: the 1921 dollar
lost 40.1% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 1961 at the same ratio, 1.67: $1,000 becomes
$1,670, and $10,000 becomes $16,704.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1961
$1.00
$1.67
$5.00
$8.35
$10.00
$16.70
$20.00
$33.41
$50.00
$83.52
$100
$167
$500
$835
$1,000
$1,670
$5,000
$8,352
$10,000
$16,704
$100,000
$167,039
$1,000,000
$1,670,391
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1961
Between 1921 and 1961, food rose the most, up 91.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 38.9%, against 67.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1961, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.29%
$167
Food
1.63%
$191
Apparel
0.82%
$139
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 1961
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 1921–1961 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
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$165
1960–1961
1.01%
1.0%
$167
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $82.12 by
1941, on its way to $167 in 1961; 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: 1961
In 1961, prices rose 1.0% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $167; the year's average CPI of 29.9 is the level
behind every 1961 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1961: $100 is worth $167 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1961/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1961. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1961/