$100 in 1921 is worth $1,028 in 2003,
because prices increased 927.9% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$1,028
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
927.9%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,028
Price difference ($100 base)
$928
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1921 → 2003
$1,028
$100 in 2003 → 1921
$9.73
What happened to prices between 1921 and 2003
Between 1921 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 927.9%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2003: the 1921 dollar
lost 90.3% of its purchasing power over
these 82 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 2003 at the same ratio, 10.28: $1,000 becomes
$10,279, and $10,000 becomes $102,793.
Amount in 1921
Value in 2003
$1.00
$10.28
$5.00
$51.40
$10.00
$103
$20.00
$206
$50.00
$514
$100
$1,028
$500
$5,140
$1,000
$10,279
$5,000
$51,397
$10,000
$102,793
$100,000
$1,027,933
$1,000,000
$10,279,330
Inflation by spending category, 1921–2003
Between 1921 and 2003, food rose the most, up 1032.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 264.2%, against 927.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$1,028
Food
3.00%
$1,132
Apparel
1.59%
$364
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 2003
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 1921–2003 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$962
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$1,028
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $167 by
1961, on its way to $1,028 in 2003; 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: 2003
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $1,028; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 2003: $100 is worth $1,028 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2003/