$100 in 1921 is worth $580 in 1984,
because prices increased 480.4% over that period, an average of
2.83% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$580
in 1984
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
480.4%
Average inflation rate
2.83% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$580
Price difference ($100 base)
$480
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1984
103.9
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
$100 in 1921 → 1984
$580
$100 in 1984 → 1921
$17.23
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1984
Between 1921 and 1984, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 103.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 480.4%, which works out to an average of
2.83% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1984: the 1921 dollar
lost 82.8% of its purchasing power over
these 63 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 1984 at the same ratio, 5.80: $1,000 becomes
$5,804, and $10,000 becomes $58,045.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1984
$1.00
$5.80
$5.00
$29.02
$10.00
$58.04
$20.00
$116
$50.00
$290
$100
$580
$500
$2,902
$1,000
$5,804
$5,000
$29,022
$10,000
$58,045
$100,000
$580,447
$1,000,000
$5,804,469
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1984
Between 1921 and 1984, food rose the most, up 549.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 207.5%, against 480.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1984, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.83%
$580
Food
3.01%
$649
Apparel
1.80%
$308
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 1984
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 1921–1984 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
1980–1984
5.97%
26.1%
$580
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $145 by
1951, on its way to $580 in 1984; 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: 1984
In 1984, prices rose 4.3% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $580; the year's average CPI of 103.9 is the level
behind every 1984 figure on this page.
1984 was the year the recovery became a boom. Real GDP grew 7.2%, the
fastest calendar-year growth since 1951, as the tax cuts passed in 1981
combined with falling interest rates and rebuilding consumer confidence.
Unemployment, which had topped 10.8% just two years earlier, fell below
7.5%. Inflation ticked up to 4.3% from 3.2% the year before, but nothing
close to a return of the 1970s wage-price spiral: the Federal Reserve under
Paul Volcker kept policy tight enough to hold the line while growth ran hot.
The strength of the expansion, branded “Morning in America” in President
Reagan’s reelection campaign, carried him to a 49-state landslide over
Walter Mondale that November, at the time the widest electoral-vote margin
in U.S. history. For households, the numbers behind the slogan were
concrete: median income rose to about $22,400, and a gallon of gas cost
$1.13, roughly what it had cost three years earlier even as wages kept
climbing. The contrast with 1980, when 13.5% inflation and interest rates
near 20% had defined the economy, could not have been sharper.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1984: $100 is worth $580 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1984/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1984. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1984/