$100 in 1921 is worth $931 in 1999,
because prices increased 830.7% over that period, an average of
2.90% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$931
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
830.7%
Average inflation rate
2.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$931
Price difference ($100 base)
$831
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1921 → 1999
$931
$100 in 1999 → 1921
$10.74
What happened to prices between 1921 and 1999
Between 1921 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 830.7%, which works out to an average of
2.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1999: the 1921 dollar
lost 89.3% of its purchasing power over
these 78 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 1999 at the same ratio, 9.31: $1,000 becomes
$9,307, and $10,000 becomes $93,073.
Amount in 1921
Value in 1999
$1.00
$9.31
$5.00
$46.54
$10.00
$93.07
$20.00
$186
$50.00
$465
$100
$931
$500
$4,654
$1,000
$9,307
$5,000
$46,536
$10,000
$93,073
$100,000
$930,726
$1,000,000
$9,307,263
Inflation by spending category, 1921–1999
Between 1921 and 1999, food rose the most, up 932.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 295.5%, against 830.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.90%
$931
Food
3.04%
$1,032
Apparel
1.78%
$395
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 1999
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 1921–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$931
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $167 by
1961, on its way to $931 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $931; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 1999: $100 is worth $931 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-1999/