$100 in 1921 is worth $226 in 1971,
because prices increased 126.3% over that period, an average of
1.65% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$226
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
126.3%
Average inflation rate
1.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$226
Price difference ($100 base)
$126
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1921 → 1971
$226
$100 in 1971 → 1921
$44.20
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1971
Between 1921 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 126.3%, which works out to an average of
1.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1971: the 1921 dollar
lost 55.8% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 1971 at the same ratio, 2.26: $1,000 becomes
$2,263, and $10,000 becomes $22,626.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1971
$1.00
$2.26
$5.00
$11.31
$10.00
$22.63
$20.00
$45.25
$50.00
$113
$100
$226
$500
$1,131
$1,000
$2,263
$5,000
$11,313
$10,000
$22,626
$100,000
$226,257
$1,000,000
$2,262,570
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1971
Between 1921 and 1971, food rose the most, up 154.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 84.0%, against 126.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.65%
$226
Food
1.88%
$254
Apparel
1.23%
$184
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 1971
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 1921–1971 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$217
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$226
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $101 by
1945, on its way to $226 in 1971; 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: 1971
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $226; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1971: $100 is worth $226 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1971/