$100 in 1921 is worth $851 in 1995,
because prices increased 751.4% over that period, an average of
2.94% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$851
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
751.4%
Average inflation rate
2.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$851
Price difference ($100 base)
$751
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1921 → 1995
$851
$100 in 1995 → 1921
$11.75
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1995
Between 1921 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 751.4%, which works out to an average of
2.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1995: the 1921 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 74 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 1995 at the same ratio, 8.51: $1,000 becomes
$8,514, and $10,000 becomes $85,140.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1995
$1.00
$8.51
$5.00
$42.57
$10.00
$85.14
$20.00
$170
$50.00
$426
$100
$851
$500
$4,257
$1,000
$8,514
$5,000
$42,570
$10,000
$85,140
$100,000
$851,397
$1,000,000
$8,513,966
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1995
Between 1921 and 1995, food rose the most, up 833.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 297.6%, against 751.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.94%
$851
Food
3.06%
$933
Apparel
1.88%
$398
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 1995
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 1921–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$851
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $152 by
1956, on its way to $851 in 1995; 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: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $851; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1995: $100 is worth $851 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1995/