$100 in 1921 is worth $176 in 1965,
because prices increased 76.0% over that period, an average of
1.29% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$176
in 1965
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
76.0%
Average inflation rate
1.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$176
Price difference ($100 base)
$75.98
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1965
31.5
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
$100 in 1921 → 1965
$176
$100 in 1965 → 1921
$56.83
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1965
Between 1921 and 1965, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 31.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 76.0%, which works out to an average of
1.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.57 buys in 1965: the 1921 dollar
lost 43.2% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 1965 at the same ratio, 1.76: $1,000 becomes
$1,760, and $10,000 becomes $17,598.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1965
$1.00
$1.76
$5.00
$8.80
$10.00
$17.60
$20.00
$35.20
$50.00
$87.99
$100
$176
$500
$880
$1,000
$1,760
$5,000
$8,799
$10,000
$17,598
$100,000
$175,978
$1,000,000
$1,759,777
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1965
Between 1921 and 1965, food rose the most, up 102.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 44.0%, against 76.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1965, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.29%
$176
Food
1.62%
$203
Apparel
0.83%
$144
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 1965
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 1921–1965 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
1960–1965
1.25%
6.4%
$176
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 $176 in 1965; 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: 1965
In 1965, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $176; the year's average CPI of 31.5 is the level
behind every 1965 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% 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 1965: $100 is worth $176 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1965/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1965. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1965/