$100 in 1921 is worth $248 in 1973,
because prices increased 148.0% over that period, an average of
1.76% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$248
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
148.0%
Average inflation rate
1.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$248
Price difference ($100 base)
$148
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1921 → 1973
$248
$100 in 1973 → 1921
$40.32
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1973
Between 1921 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 148.0%, which works out to an average of
1.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.40 buys in 1973: the 1921 dollar
lost 59.7% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 1973 at the same ratio, 2.48: $1,000 becomes
$2,480, and $10,000 becomes $24,804.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1973
$1.00
$2.48
$5.00
$12.40
$10.00
$24.80
$20.00
$49.61
$50.00
$124
$100
$248
$500
$1,240
$1,000
$2,480
$5,000
$12,402
$10,000
$24,804
$100,000
$248,045
$1,000,000
$2,480,447
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1973
Between 1921 and 1973, food rose the most, up 203.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 94.6%, against 148.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.76%
$248
Food
2.16%
$303
Apparel
1.29%
$195
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 1973
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 1921–1973 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
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$248
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $125 by
1947, on its way to $248 in 1973; 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: 1973
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $248; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1973: $100 is worth $248 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1973/