$100 in 1921 is worth $234 in 1972,
because prices increased 133.5% over that period, an average of
1.68% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$234
in 1972
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
133.5%
Average inflation rate
1.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$234
Price difference ($100 base)
$134
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1972
41.8
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
$100 in 1921 → 1972
$234
$100 in 1972 → 1921
$42.82
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1972
Between 1921 and 1972, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 41.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 133.5%, which works out to an average of
1.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1972: the 1921 dollar
lost 57.2% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1972 at the same ratio, 2.34: $1,000 becomes
$2,335, and $10,000 becomes $23,352.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1972
$1.00
$2.34
$5.00
$11.68
$10.00
$23.35
$20.00
$46.70
$50.00
$117
$100
$234
$500
$1,168
$1,000
$2,335
$5,000
$11,676
$10,000
$23,352
$100,000
$233,520
$1,000,000
$2,335,196
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1972
Between 1921 and 1972, food rose the most, up 164.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 87.7%, against 133.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1972, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.68%
$234
Food
1.93%
$265
Apparel
1.24%
$188
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 1972
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 1921–1972 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
1970–1972
3.79%
7.7%
$234
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $125 by
1947, on its way to $234 in 1972; 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: 1972
In 1972, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $234; the year's average CPI of 41.8 is the level
behind every 1972 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose just 3.2% in 1972, the calmest year of the decade and a
sharp break from the previous two years. The relief was largely engineered:
Nixon’s wage and price controls, imposed as a 90-day freeze in August 1971,
had settled into a series of “phases” that capped how much businesses could
raise prices through the election year. Economists would later argue the
controls mostly deferred inflation rather than curing it, storing up pressure
that broke loose once they were lifted. Nixon spent political capital on
foreign policy that year, traveling to Beijing that February in the first
visit by a sitting U.S. president to the People’s Republic of China, a trip
that began normalizing relations Washington had frozen since 1949. Closer to
home, five men were arrested breaking into the Democratic National
Committee’s offices at the Watergate complex that June 17, an event that drew
little attention at the time but would eventually force Nixon from office.
None of it dented his re-election bid: Nixon carried 49 states against
Democrat George McGovern that November, helped by an economy that, on paper,
looked more stable than it had in years. A median household earned $9,697 in
1972, a new home sold for a median $27,600, and gas held near 36 cents a
gallon for a third straight year. Consumer prices stood 322.2% above their
1913 level, a lull that would not survive contact with the
controls’ expiration and the oil shock still to come.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1972: $100 is worth $234 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1972/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1972. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1972/