$100 in 1921 is worth $173 in 1964,
because prices increased 73.2% over that period, an average of
1.29% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$173
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
73.2%
Average inflation rate
1.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$173
Price difference ($100 base)
$73.18
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1921 → 1964
$173
$100 in 1964 → 1921
$57.74
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1964
Between 1921 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 73.2%, which works out to an average of
1.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.58 buys in 1964: the 1921 dollar
lost 42.3% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 1964 at the same ratio, 1.73: $1,000 becomes
$1,732, and $10,000 becomes $17,318.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1964
$1.00
$1.73
$5.00
$8.66
$10.00
$17.32
$20.00
$34.64
$50.00
$86.59
$100
$173
$500
$866
$1,000
$1,732
$5,000
$8,659
$10,000
$17,318
$100,000
$173,184
$1,000,000
$1,731,844
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1964
Between 1921 and 1964, food rose the most, up 98.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 42.5%, against 73.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.29%
$173
Food
1.60%
$198
Apparel
0.83%
$142
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 1964
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 1921–1964 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
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$173
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $96.65 by
1943, on its way to $173 in 1964; 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: 1964
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $173; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1964: $100 is worth $173 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1964/