$100 in 1921 is worth $807 in 1993,
because prices increased 707.3% over that period, an average of
2.94% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$807
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
707.3%
Average inflation rate
2.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$807
Price difference ($100 base)
$707
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1921 → 1993
$807
$100 in 1993 → 1921
$12.39
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1993
Between 1921 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 707.3%, which works out to an average of
2.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1993: the 1921 dollar
lost 87.6% of its purchasing power over
these 72 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 1993 at the same ratio, 8.07: $1,000 becomes
$8,073, and $10,000 becomes $80,726.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1993
$1.00
$8.07
$5.00
$40.36
$10.00
$80.73
$20.00
$161
$50.00
$404
$100
$807
$500
$4,036
$1,000
$8,073
$5,000
$40,363
$10,000
$80,726
$100,000
$807,263
$1,000,000
$8,072,626
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1993
Between 1921 and 1993, food rose the most, up 786.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 302.7%, against 707.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.94%
$807
Food
3.08%
$886
Apparel
1.95%
$403
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 1993
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 1921–1993 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$730
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$807
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $152 by
1956, on its way to $807 in 1993; 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: 1993
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $807; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1993: $100 is worth $807 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1993/