$100 in 1921 is worth $460 in 1980,
because prices increased 360.3% over that period, an average of
2.62% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$460
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
360.3%
Average inflation rate
2.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$460
Price difference ($100 base)
$360
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1921 → 1980
$460
$100 in 1980 → 1921
$21.72
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1980
Between 1921 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 360.3%, which works out to an average of
2.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1980: the 1921 dollar
lost 78.3% of its purchasing power over
these 59 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 1980 at the same ratio, 4.60: $1,000 becomes
$4,603, and $10,000 becomes $46,034.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1980
$1.00
$4.60
$5.00
$23.02
$10.00
$46.03
$20.00
$92.07
$50.00
$230
$100
$460
$500
$2,302
$1,000
$4,603
$5,000
$23,017
$10,000
$46,034
$100,000
$460,335
$1,000,000
$4,603,352
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1980
Between 1921 and 1980, food rose the most, up 445.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 173.8%, against 360.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.62%
$460
Food
2.92%
$546
Apparel
1.72%
$274
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 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$460
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $145 by
1951, on its way to $460 in 1980; 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: 1980
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $460; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1980: $100 is worth $460 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1980/