$100 in 1921 is worth $1,055 in 2004,
because prices increased 955.3% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1921 has
the same buying power as
$1,055
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
955.3%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,055
Price difference ($100 base)
$955
CPI in 1921
17.9
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1921
-10.50%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1921 → 2004
$1,055
$100 in 2004 → 1921
$9.48
What happened to prices between 1921 and 2004
Between 1921 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.9 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 955.3%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1921 bought what
$0.09 buys in 2004: the 1921 dollar
lost 90.5% of its purchasing power over
these 83 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 2004 at the same ratio, 10.55: $1,000 becomes
$10,553, and $10,000 becomes $105,531.
Amount in 1921
Value in 2004
$1.00
$10.55
$5.00
$52.77
$10.00
$106
$20.00
$211
$50.00
$528
$100
$1,055
$500
$5,277
$1,000
$10,553
$5,000
$52,765
$10,000
$105,531
$100,000
$1,055,307
$1,000,000
$10,553,073
Inflation by spending category, 1921–2004
Between 1921 and 2004, food rose the most, up 1071.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 262.7%, against 955.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1921
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1921 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$1,055
Food
3.01%
$1,171
Apparel
1.56%
$363
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 2004
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 1921–2004 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
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$1,055
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1921
$100 from 1921 had already become $167 by
1961, on its way to $1,055 in 2004; 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: 2004
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1921 had the buying
power of $1,055; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1921 to 2004: $100 is worth $1,055 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1921 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1921-to-2004/