$100 in 1921 is worth $539 in 1982,
because prices increased 439.1% over that period, an average of
2.80% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$539
in 1982
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
439.1%
Average inflation rate
2.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$539
Price difference ($100 base)
$439
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1982
96.5
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
$100 in 1921 → 1982
$539
$100 in 1982 → 1921
$18.55
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1982
Between 1921 and 1982, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 96.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 439.1%, which works out to an average of
2.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.19 buys in 1982: the 1921 dollar
lost 81.5% of its purchasing power over
these 61 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 1982 at the same ratio, 5.39: $1,000 becomes
$5,391, and $10,000 becomes $53,911.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1982
$1.00
$5.39
$5.00
$26.96
$10.00
$53.91
$20.00
$108
$50.00
$270
$100
$539
$500
$2,696
$1,000
$5,391
$5,000
$26,955
$10,000
$53,911
$100,000
$539,106
$1,000,000
$5,391,061
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1982
Between 1921 and 1982, food rose the most, up 512.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 194.6%, against 439.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1982, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.80%
$539
Food
3.02%
$613
Apparel
1.79%
$295
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 1982
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 8.22% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1921–1982 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
1980–1982
8.22%
17.1%
$539
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $145 by
1951, on its way to $539 in 1982; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1982
In 1982, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $539; the year's average CPI of 96.5 is the level
behind every 1982 figure on this page.
1982 was the hard bottom of the disinflation Paul Volcker had set in motion.
Consumer prices rose just 6.2% for the year, roughly half of 1981’s rate and a
fraction of the 13.5% peak from two years earlier. The price fell because
demand had been crushed: the recession that began in July 1981 did not
officially end until November 1982, and unemployment kept climbing even as
the economy technically began to recover, reaching 10.8% in November and
December, the highest rate since the Great Depression. Manufacturing and
construction, especially the auto and housing industries starved of credit by
double-digit interest rates, bore the worst of it. Abroad, Mexico’s August
announcement that it could not service its foreign debt opened a Latin
American debt crisis that spread across the region and forced the Federal
Reserve and IMF into emergency lending. The stress on the financial system
pushed Volcker to start easing interest rates that October, stepping back
from the strict money-supply targets he had followed since 1979. Markets read
the shift correctly: the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 776.92 in
mid-August, and the rally that followed became the opening leg of the 1980s
bull market. By year’s end, the trade-off Volcker had bet on was becoming
visible: much lower inflation, at the cost of the worst unemployment in 40
years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1982: $100 is worth $539 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1982/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1982. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1982/